An Evolutionary Approach to Social Welfare (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy, 51)

While not evident immediately, social norms and values play a crucial role in the theory of social choice. In the first half of the twentieth century, the special acknowledgement by economic theory of the autonomy of individuals and their subjective view of the world had led to the serious problem that socially acceptable decisions could not be made in the absence of unanimity. In this work, social norms and values are reintroduced to overcome this shortcoming by applying a common standard and, thus, making individual preferences comparable. In particular, it is shown, how the adoption of these standards is part of every individual's social development, how the standards themselves arose in the course of social evolution and how human beings were endowed with the necessary learning mechanism by Darwinian evolution in the first place. This impressive, unique book is well informed and clearly written. It will be of great interest to all those students, academics and researchers who are interested in evolutionary economics as well as social welfare and philosophy. Book Cover......Page 1 Half-Title......Page 2 Title......Page 6 Copyright......Page 7 Dedication......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Ilustrations......Page 12 Preface......Page 13 1.1 The need for a new approach to social welfare......Page 15 1.2 From utilitarianism to positivist subjectivism......Page 18 1.3 Preference orderings and social choice......Page 27 1.4 Justice, empathy, and the ‘veil of ignorance’......Page 32 1.5 A positive theory of social welfare......Page 38 Part I Evolution, behavior, and learning......Page 41 2 Evolution and learning—the rise of behavioral plasticity......Page 42 2.1 Learning and man’s success in evolution......Page 43 2.2 From inherited to learned behavior......Page 45 2.3 Behaviorist approaches to learning......Page 49 2.4 Restrictions on the potentiality to learn......Page 52 2.5 Cognitive science and learning......Page 54 3 Motivation and well-being......Page 64 3.1 Drives and needs......Page 65 3.2 Drives and instincts......Page 70 3.3 Fear and learned drives......Page 71 3.4 Drives and incentives: push versus pull......Page 73 3.5 Drive for cognition—what makes us think?......Page 75 3.6 Drives and desires—an instrumental relationship......Page 78 3.7 Habits—between drives and desires......Page 80 3.8 Reason and drives—the empiricist philosopher’s view......Page 84 3.9 Emotions—amplifiers of drives and origin of commitment......Page 89 3.10 Conflicts between motivations......Page 96 3.11 Motivation and hedonism......Page 99 3.12 Motivation and well-being—a conclusion......Page 104 4 Propagation of behavioral determinants......Page 106 4.1 Natural selection and genes......Page 107 4.2 Genes as replicators......Page 110 4.3 Natural selection and adaptation......Page 111 4.4 Learning and memes......Page 117 4.5 Sociobiology and the relevance of memes......Page 118 4.6 The functioning of memes in evolution......Page 122 (a) How do memes work?......Page 123 (b) How do memes evolve?......Page 124 (c) How do memes and genes relate to each other?......Page 127 (d) What about the copying fidelity of memes?......Page 128 (e) Is the evolution of memes a Lamarckian process?......Page 130 (f) The variation of memes—a ‘blind’ process?......Page 131 (g) How does the selective retention of memes proceed?......Page 134 (h) The meme—a comprehensive definition......Page 137 4.7 Two kinds of memes......Page 138 4.8 Three kinds of replicators......Page 141 4.9 The interaction of replicators......Page 143 4.10 Conclusion......Page 148 Part II Coordination, cooperation, and social welfare......Page 149 5 The significance of the group for the evolution of order and cooperation......Page 150 5.1 Coordination......Page 151 5.2 Cooperation......Page 155 5.3 Altruism and group-level selection in biology......Page 157 5.4 Rationality and commitment in economics......Page 161 (a) Habitual cooperation and retaliation......Page 166 (b) Intrinsic preferences for fair behavior......Page 167 (c) Signaling of binding commitment......Page 170 5.6 Cooperation and economic institutions......Page 171 5.7 Group selection and ‘spontaneous order’......Page 175 5.8 The functional principles of social group selection......Page 180 5.9 Fitness in the context of social group selection......Page 184 5.10 Social group selection—some evidence......Page 187 5.11 Adaptiveness of social group selection......Page 193 5.12 Conclusions......Page 194 6 Welfare and evolution......Page 196 6.1 Cardinal utility and interpersonal comparability......Page 197 6.2 Interpersonal comparison—empathy and moral principles......Page 200 6.3 Social welfare versus individual well-being......Page 203 6.4 Welfare comparison across cultures?—The role of subjective well-being......Page 206 6.5 The evolution of welfare......Page 214 6.6 The normative approach to meta-criteria of welfare......Page 220 6.7 Conclusions......Page 224 7 Conclusions......Page 226 1 Introduction......Page 234 2 Evolution and learning—the rise of behavioral plasticity......Page 235 3 Motivation and well-being......Page 236 4 Propagation of behavioral determinants......Page 238 5 The significance of the group for the evolution of order and cooperation......Page 239 6 Welfare and evolution......Page 242 References......Page 243 INDEX......Page 255 In the first half of the 20th century, the special acknowledgement by economic theory of the autonomy of individuals and their subjective view of the world had led to the serious problem that socially acceptable decisions could not be made in the absence of unanimity. In this work, social norms and values are reintroduced to overcome this shortcoming by applying a common standard and, thus, making individual preferences comparable. In particular, it is shown how the adoption of these standards is part of every individual's social development, how the standards themselves arose in the course of social evolution and how human beings were endowed with the necessary learning mechanism by Darwinian evolution in the first place. This book should be of interest to all those students, academics and researchers who are interested in evolutionary economics as well as social welfare and philosophy A person finds a lost purse with a lot of money in it. Ought she try to return it to its owner or keep it herself? And even more interestingly, what will she actually do? According to standard economic theory, a rational person is supposed to maximize her utility and, at least when unobserved, keep the purse for herself. In reality, however, most people return the purse although they are unobserved or, at least, they feel uneasy about not doing so. Evidently, these people share a common attitude towards other people's property. In social life, norms and values like this typically help in settling potential conflicts of interest to the mutual benefit of all. While not evident immediately, social norms and values play a crucial role in the theory of social choice This Book Is Well Informed And Clearly Written. It Will Be Of Great Interest To All Those Students, Academics And Researchers Who Are Interested In Evolutionary Economics And Social Welfare As Well As Social Psychology, Evolutionary Biology And Philosophy.--jacket. Pt. I. Evolution, Behavior, And Learning -- Evolution And Learning -- The Rise Of Behavioral Plasticity -- Motivation And Well-being -- Propagation Of Behavioral Determinants -- Pt. Ii. Coordination, Cooperation, And Social Welfare -- The Significance Of The Group For The Evolution Of Order And Cooperation -- Welfare And Evolution -- Conclusions. Christian Sartorius. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [220]-239) And Index.