The paper argues that classical liberalism may be viewed as, and evaluated as, a ‘research program’ for work in policy and the social sciences. In this context, Mises’s and Hayek’s arguments about the significance of the social dispersal of information are of great importance. But Hayek’s own distinction between knowledge and information should lead classical liberals to note the way in which fallible theoretical knowledge plays a role in their own approach, and that they face some interesting problems concerning its production and social entrenchment.

KEYWORDS: Classical Liberalism, Knowledge, Hayek, Popper, Fallibility