Post by Sapphire Capital on Sept 6, 2008 2:37:37 GMT 4
Foundations of Evolutionary Economics, Chapter Three: The General Theory of Evolution
Carsten Herrmann-Pillath
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management; Witten/Herdecke University
Carsten Herrmann-Pillath, FOUNDATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMICS, Chapter 3, Edward Elgar, 2009
Abstract:
This is the third draft chapter of my book Foundations of Evolutionary Economics which is going to be published by Edward Elgar in 2009. With permission of the publisher, these draft chapters are posted on the SSRN website to facilitate academic discussion for further improvement.
A full summary of chapter three can be found at the beginning of the main text. The chapter builds a general theory of evolution on the two pillars of the analytics of variation, selection and retention, embedded into population thinking, and an externalist approach to knowledge. Knowledge evolves with the growing complexity of constraints, which are ontologically situated on different levels of selection. Building on Price's general mathematical analysis of selection, the chapter adopts the perspective of hierarchical selection theory. This is further enriched by distinguishing between frequency-independent selection and frequency-dependent selection, with the latter assuming a central role. From this follows that the general theory of evolution places information processing in co-evolving systems into the center of attention. Analytical patterns such as the Red Queen effect and the handicap principle follow straightforward. Hierarchical selection theory suggests a mere functional, and rejects an ontological interpretation of the replicator/interactor dichontomy, as well as discards the system/environment distinction of narrow interpretations of natural selection. As a result, the general theory of evolution is non-reductionistic and includes human culture into its scope.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1263171_code103179.pdf?abstractid=1185303&mirid=1
Carsten Herrmann-Pillath
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management; Witten/Herdecke University
Carsten Herrmann-Pillath, FOUNDATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMICS, Chapter 3, Edward Elgar, 2009
Abstract:
This is the third draft chapter of my book Foundations of Evolutionary Economics which is going to be published by Edward Elgar in 2009. With permission of the publisher, these draft chapters are posted on the SSRN website to facilitate academic discussion for further improvement.
A full summary of chapter three can be found at the beginning of the main text. The chapter builds a general theory of evolution on the two pillars of the analytics of variation, selection and retention, embedded into population thinking, and an externalist approach to knowledge. Knowledge evolves with the growing complexity of constraints, which are ontologically situated on different levels of selection. Building on Price's general mathematical analysis of selection, the chapter adopts the perspective of hierarchical selection theory. This is further enriched by distinguishing between frequency-independent selection and frequency-dependent selection, with the latter assuming a central role. From this follows that the general theory of evolution places information processing in co-evolving systems into the center of attention. Analytical patterns such as the Red Queen effect and the handicap principle follow straightforward. Hierarchical selection theory suggests a mere functional, and rejects an ontological interpretation of the replicator/interactor dichontomy, as well as discards the system/environment distinction of narrow interpretations of natural selection. As a result, the general theory of evolution is non-reductionistic and includes human culture into its scope.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1263171_code103179.pdf?abstractid=1185303&mirid=1