The concepts of spontaneous order and constructed order are fundamental to understanding the distinctions between different political sensibilities, including libertarianism and the constructivisms of the right (conservatism) and left (socialism).

Constructivism refers to the desire to shape society according to a certain plan. It is an approach that seeks to impose a pre-established vision of society through the actions of the state or other entities (unions, NGOs, pressure groups or international organizations).

The opposite of constructivism is spontaneous order, which emerges naturally from the free interactions of individuals, while constructed order is the result of deliberate, planned intervention to shape society according to a particular vision, whether conservative (fixed) or progressive (transformed).

Constructivists believe that it is possible to build a society that conforms to their wishes. Libertarians, on the other hand, believe that a society builds itself unpredictably through inter-individual coordination processes.

Spontaneous order is a major concept derived from the work of Hayek. It is defined as the product of the free interactions of individuals in society. It is the result of human action, not of deliberate human consciousness, and is not planned or imposed by a central authority: The product of human action, not of human design, repeated Friedrich Hayek, quoting Adam Ferguson.

Describing the mechanism of the invisible hand, Adam Smith in turn wrote: By seeking only his own self-interest, [the individual] often works more efficiently for the interest of society, than if his object were really to work for it.

According to Hayek, any pretension to scientifically organizing society and the market leads to aggravating the ills rather than remedying them. As Burke pointed out, following in the footsteps of the Scotsmen Smith and Hume, history produces institutions that are more complex and better adapted than anything that reason can consciously conceive.

Indeed, rules, institutions, practices and other social phenomena are not the result of intentional planning by a central authority.

Many of the greatest things humanity has achieved did not result from consciously directed thought, and even less from a deliberately coordinated effort by many people, but from a process in which the individual plays a role he will never fully understand. F. Hayek.

Languages, for example, or customs, are things created by man. But none of them was conceived by a human being. They all emerged unplanned. The same goes for old currencies, such as metallic coins, or for a new currency like Bitcoin. These are innovations without permission that have been elected by the market.

**Dispersed knowledge

The market is a tool for cooperation, as it provides information on the real state of needs and skills. It is a procedure for discovering information and mobilizing dispersed knowledge about value and needs. In effect, the market is the meeting place of individual preferences, leading to the formation of prices. The price system is therefore a mechanism that emerges spontaneously from contracts to coordinate exchanges. When prices are freely debated, they reflect the diversity of consumer opinions and preferences.

Only individuals can know the costs and benefits of a good, because they are subjective. In a centralized, planned system, on the other hand, the state sets prices, but since it only knows part of consumer preferences and local specificities, it distorts the market. Only a decentralized trading system, with freely negotiated prices, can bring out this dispersed knowledge.

Libertarians are therefore opposed to both socialists and conservatives, i.e., to two categories of constructivists: socialists want to reform society, conservatives want to maintain it as it is. So there are left-wing constructivists and right-wing constructivists.

Constructivists, centrists, conservatives and socialists all agree on one key point: they consider the political process to be more efficient than the market process.

Philosophically, the libertarian may agree with some of the goals of conservatives and socialists, but empirically he or she will disagree with their means.

So the libertarian will agree with the socialists about helping oppressed workers, but he won't think that the minimum wage can achieve this goal, at least not a uniform minimum wage imposed everywhere.

Ironically, while many advocates of socialism defend economic equality, history has shown that when countries try to eradicate the spontaneous wealth-creation process associated with free markets, they create the worst possible kind of inequality: a society where the masses starve while central planners live like kings.

Central planning can't work, because it tries to substitute omniscient intelligence for a distributed, fragmented system with localized but connected knowledge.

Similarly, the libertarian will agree with the conservative idea that civilization must be defended, but will not agree with making laws and regulations that increase restrictions, spending and the burden of government. On the contrary, it will defend the only means that is both fair and effective: the power of choice or the principle of responsible freedom, i.e. the market process.

Libertarians believe that the economic and social order is self-organizing, provided that the rights and duties of individuals are clearly defined. Their approach is based on respect for property rights and non-intervention by the state, leaving society to organize itself.

For libertarians, the true regulation of society is not democracy, which has its uses as a means of appointing representatives, but first and foremost the free market. Without a free market, there is no compass. For the market is the best indicator of personal preferences. In a free market, players fully exercise their right to decide their own affairs.