Evolutionary Psychology and Economic Theory

Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1138-5
Verlag: Jai Press Inc.

Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 646 g

Reihe: Advances in Austrian Economics

Contributors to this volume seriously engage issues in the crossroads where biology, psychology, and economics meet. The volume makes several important contributions to the area and provides an overview of the current state of knowledge. Biologist David Sloan Wilson, psychologists Robert Kurzban and C.A. Aktipis, economists Geoffrey Hodgson, Paul Rubin and Evelyn Gick, and jurist David Friedman consider altruism, selfishness, group selection, methodological individualism, dominance hierarchies, and other issues relating evolutionary psychology to economics. Several contributors, such as Viktor Vanberg and Brian Loasby, pay special attention to the role of F. A. Hayek and other "Austrian" thinkers in shaping evolutionary approaches to economic theory. Theoretical biologist Deby Cassill relates her revolutionary theory of "skew selection" in biology to perennial issues in political economy. The volume includes a symposium on group selection and methodological individualism. In an important paper, D. G. Whitman argues that group selection and methodological individualism are "compatible and complementary." Comments from Elliot Sober David Sloan Wilson, Richard Langlois, Todd Zywicki, and Adam Gifford offer a heterogeneous set of responses to Whitman's argument. Roger Koppl's introduction constitutes a review essay and includes an argument that "Austrian" economists have a comparative advantage in bringing the Verstehen tradition of social thought into contact with recent work in biology and evolutionary psychology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Koppl, Roger

Koppl, R.

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Biologische Psychologie, Neuropsychologie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Wirtschaftstheorie, Wirtschaftsphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Economics evolving: An introduction to the volume (R. Koppl). Economics and evolutionary psychology (D. Friedman). The emergence of moguls and dominance hierarchies in modern humans (D. Cassill, A. Watkins). Austrian economics, evolutionary psychology and individual actions (G. Hodgson). Hayek and modern evolutionary theory (P. Rubin, E. Gick). Hayek's theory of the mind (B. Loasby). Is homo economicus extinct? Vernon Smith, Daniel Dahneman and the evolutionary perspective (C.A. Aktipis, R. Kurzban). Austrian economics, evolutionary psychology and methodological dualism: Subjectivism reconsidered (V. Vanberg). The new fable of the bees: multilevel selection, adaptive societies, and the concept of self interest (D.S. Wilson). Symposium on group selection. Group selection and methodological individualism: Compatible and complementary (D.G. Whitman). On group selection and methodological individualism - a reply to Douglas Glen Whitman (E. Sober, D.S. Wilson). Comment on 'group selection and methodological individualism: Compatible and complementary' (R. Langlois). Reconciling group selection and methodological individualism (T. Zywicki). Levels of selection and methodological individualism (A. Gifford). Response to comments. (D.G. Whitman).