In
1859, Charles Darwin would publish his seminal work entitled "On the
Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of
Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." This work would set off
controversies that resound to this day.
Before Darwin, the generally accepted idea was that the world was the way it was because that is how the Creator wanted it. The majority of intellectual speculation, whether of a scientific, philosophical, or religious nature, assumed that the goal in life was to discover those divine rules that ordered a fixed universe. After Darwin, while folks still sought to discover the natural laws with universal applications, the focus shifted to describing the mechanisms of change.
No wonder Darwin is often considered the most disruptive thinker in history.
Taking Darwin out of the biology context is a hazardous occupation. The ugliest of the non-biological manifestation of Darwin's theories is often called "Social Darwinism." Perhaps the most famous social Darwinist in USA was the 19th century chairman of Political Economy at Yale by the name of William Graham Sumner. His most famous student was a kid from Minnesota named Thorstein Veblen.
Veblen was influenced by Sumner--though not in ways usually expected. Veblen thought Social Darwinism was a monstrous error and devoted much of his life's work to debunking Sumner's teachings. This did not mean Veblen rejected the theories of evolution. Far from it. In 1898, even before his first book was published, Veblen wrote an incredibly important paper entitled “Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science”.
Suddenly, the extant economics looked as static and ridged as any holy book. Veblen would go on to write a body of work that would described "economic man" as a dynamic actor with complex motives who was constantly evolving. Veblen is usually considered one of the fathers of a discipline called evolutionary economics. Wikipedia defines this speciality thus:
Before Darwin, the generally accepted idea was that the world was the way it was because that is how the Creator wanted it. The majority of intellectual speculation, whether of a scientific, philosophical, or religious nature, assumed that the goal in life was to discover those divine rules that ordered a fixed universe. After Darwin, while folks still sought to discover the natural laws with universal applications, the focus shifted to describing the mechanisms of change.
No wonder Darwin is often considered the most disruptive thinker in history.
Taking Darwin out of the biology context is a hazardous occupation. The ugliest of the non-biological manifestation of Darwin's theories is often called "Social Darwinism." Perhaps the most famous social Darwinist in USA was the 19th century chairman of Political Economy at Yale by the name of William Graham Sumner. His most famous student was a kid from Minnesota named Thorstein Veblen.
Veblen was influenced by Sumner--though not in ways usually expected. Veblen thought Social Darwinism was a monstrous error and devoted much of his life's work to debunking Sumner's teachings. This did not mean Veblen rejected the theories of evolution. Far from it. In 1898, even before his first book was published, Veblen wrote an incredibly important paper entitled “Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science”.
Suddenly, the extant economics looked as static and ridged as any holy book. Veblen would go on to write a body of work that would described "economic man" as a dynamic actor with complex motives who was constantly evolving. Veblen is usually considered one of the fathers of a discipline called evolutionary economics. Wikipedia defines this speciality thus:
Evolutionary
economics is part of mainstream economics as well as heterodox school of
economic thought that is inspired by evolutionary biology. It stresses complex
interdependencies, competition, growth, structural change, and resource constraints
but differs in the approaches which are used to analyze these phenomena.
Evolutionary
economics deals with the study of processes that transform economy for firms,
institutions, industries, employment, production, trade and growth within,
through the actions of diverse agents from experience and interactions, using
evolutionary methodology.
Evolutionary
economics is validated by the existence of something that can only be called evolutionary
industry. Toyota imported evolutionary concepts into their system of
quality control and called it Kaizen (continuous
improvement). The results were stunning--Toyota so revolutionized quality
control they were able to leverage this reputation into their present status as
world's largest automaker.
Why this is important
Evolutionary economics, especially in its heterodox manifestations, is hands down the best ways to understand and describe the complexity of the real world. Typical non-evolutionary economic statements like
Why this is important
Evolutionary economics, especially in its heterodox manifestations, is hands down the best ways to understand and describe the complexity of the real world. Typical non-evolutionary economic statements like
The market is
always rational
A corporation
exists only to maximize the return to the shareholders
Free Trade will
bring generalized prosperity
are wrong because they are as static and ridged
as any theological statement they so resemble. This blog rejects static
economics--mostly because dynamic descriptions of economic behavior are far
more accurate.
Evolutionary industry is important because if we ever produce one, the green sustainable society will happen one tiny little improvement at a time. And the folks MOST likely to create those new green bits and pieces are those most industrially evolved already.
Evolutionary industry is important because if we ever produce one, the green sustainable society will happen one tiny little improvement at a time. And the folks MOST likely to create those new green bits and pieces are those most industrially evolved already.
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