It is not an exaggeration to say that as far as his premises are concerned, Hayek is one of the fathers of Evonomics. So is Thorstein Veblen, who titled an 1898 article “Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science?”
The conclusions that Hayek draws from his premises are another matter. In my humble opinion, they require updating. But there’s no point discussing the conclusions that follow from a set of premises unless the premises are first accepted. Discussions centered on Hayek are therefore discussions centered on economics from an evolutionary perspective.…A different view of Hayek. To be continued.
Evonomics
Love Hayek, Love Darwin
David Sloan Wilson | Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University and Arne Næss Chair in Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo
See also
George Cooper
Steve Roth
This is nothing to brag about for Darwinists...
ReplyDelete"This will come as a surprise to a lot of Hayek enthusiasts, who manage to endorse his view of economics, deny evolution, and maintain a pious stance toward religion all at the same time."
ReplyDeleteBut the same could be said for people who do not endorse Hayek, believe in evolution, and are atheist/agnostic all at the same time... how does that combination make sense either????
Matt-
ReplyDelete"But the same could be said for people who do not endorse Hayek, believe in evolution, and are atheist/agnostic all at the same time... how does that combination make sense either????"
Why would it not make sense to reject Hayek, accept evolution, and be secular at the same time.
Evolution is objectively true and not dependent on your beliefs
All religions are man-made and thus false is the objective truth and not dependent on one's beliefs
Seems to me you've missed the whole point of your top quoted line. The 3 things in the top quote contradict each other, the bottom 3 complement each other.
How can you deny Hayek and accept "survival of the fittest"?
ReplyDeleteThe 1% could be evolving off into a new superior species or supervisory role within a species...
Isnt 'survival of the fittest' the whole basis of the Ayn Rand stuff?
A lot of people are doing very well and just fine in the present economy... prospering... they are the 'survivors' and the 'fittest'....
A, I'm not saying such people are secular (non-religious), I said 'atheist' which means 'un-placered' (theos means 'placer') and agnostic which means 'un-knowledged'...
ReplyDeleteIf one believes in evolution then one would be 'unplacered' (thinking we evolved and were not placed) and if one does not have the knowledge of God then one is 'un-knowledged'...
Its actually called 'social Darwinism' for a reason...
You cant get your concern for the plight of your fellow man from Darwinism and philosophy...
"Evolution is objectively true"
ReplyDeleteIts a rationalist form of 'science' (at best) ... not empirical science...
wiki: "Rationalists have such a high confidence in reason that empirical proof and physical evidence are unnecessary to ascertain truth"
Its not surprising some would come up with something like 'evolution' via human reason if they were atheist and agnostic....
A, Here is Paul: "there is one God, the Father, out of Whom all is.... but not in all is there this knowledge." 1 Cor 8:6
ReplyDeletethe ones he identifies here as "not in knowledge" are literally the 'agnostic'... if you dont have that knowledge, then something like evolution is probably going to be generated by those thru human reason/rationalism... what else do they have to work with?
(TIP: Does NOT also go on to say those agnostics are "going to hell!!!!!!" either...)
There is plenty of empirical evidence of evolution... a lot of it, if the underlying mechanics are not always clear (there is even recurring theme of sort of Lamarckism, ie. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance) but the overall description should be sound (and certainly more solid than 'we were placed in the earth 6k years ago and God just designs and micromanage everything; you have to be downright stupid to affirm such thing with HUMANS having such a strong effect on evolution RIGHT NOW, more evidence...).
ReplyDeleteYou are conflating a lot of points there... a political ideology ("social darwinism" and the offspring's that came after Darwin published his book) with how nature operates. Evolution is not "survival of the fittest" in an individualistic flavor (as portrait-ed by right-wing nutjobs, including many on the religious right), that's just an over-oversimplification of how life evolves and thrives, in fact 'fittest' is context dependent, and often leads to dead-ends (then when the context changes), this would be more relevant in humans where evolution through environmental natural pressure has decreased significantly and social impact has higher weight.
One theoretically benefit of having higher intelligence and communication than other animals is that we should be able to examine and change our habits to achieve better outcomes (one that is beneficial for the whole species, as species look to proliferate as a whole, not as individuals, as you can cannot proliferate without your similar, needed for reproduction, but not only... protection, security, healthy life, lack of stress, leveraging cooperation and coordination and in general sanity).
A lot of people are doing very well and just fine in the present economy... prospering... they are the 'survivors' and the 'fittest'....
ReplyDeleteI'll bet that was a common refrain in France until around 1793...
I,
ReplyDeleteRead some of the stuff from Shapiro (sample):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-a-shapiro/inconvenient-truths-why-a_b_2228277.html
"intelligent design" like "evolution" is also not a scriptural phrasing that describes what is going on...
Bob,
Darwin surfaced 50 years later.... no one was believing they evolved from worms in 1793....
Good finds; keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Matt that article backs up what I'm saying (look at the Wiki link I posted, is related): the underlying mechanics are not clear and certainly could depart from some darwinian hypothesis, this is a highly complex matter which involves processes we don't comprehend yet (like biomolecular processes), but the overall assertions of 'evolutionary theory' is sound (the environment selects the most favorable traits in that context as organism are able to increase their population and access bigger chunks of the resources available to them while others decrease their share and eventually disappear).
ReplyDeleteNow what has that to do with 'social darwinism' and it's offspring's (including Randyan stupid objectivism, Austrian economics, the different nut-job political ideologies etc.)? The absolutists (portraying themselves as owners of absolute truth) behind those ideologies are just taking one assertion and building up world view around it, to them it doesn't matter if cooperation and coordination of the members of a social specie (like humans obviously are) and their well being of its members as a collective is tantamount to their success, because is their view of the world through colored-glasses only thing that matters is how well the psychopaths can individually do exploiting their fellow individual companions.
Therefor I don't see any incompatibility between believing 'evolution' (even it were false) and not being a psychopath!
F.D: I'm not fully buying either the 'random mutation' theory and there is much (all?) we can learn on the actual mechanics and workings of evolution as I'm sure we will.
Matt,
ReplyDeleteSocial Darwinism is a lot older than Darwin or the French Revolution. The elites have been saying this for as long as there has been a place for them.
The author needs to "break out" the first part on Hayek into green and red text regarding morals, traditions, and Hayek's conclusions thereupon ... I suggest he use this.
ReplyDeleteI,
ReplyDeleteWell, manifestly one of mankind does not have to have this knowledge as dispensed from Paul: "there is one God out of Whom all is...." for one to be among the good of mankind.... all you guys are living empirical evidence of that.... I have great respect for you all in this regard....