Darwin's Conjecture : The Search for General Principles of Social and Economic Evolution

Hodgson, Geoffrey M.; Knudsen, Thorbjorn

ISBN 10: 022600578X / ISBN 13: 9780226005782

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2013

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 18471902-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Darwin's Conjecture : The Search for General Principles of Social and Economic Evolution
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022600578X
• ISBN 13: 9780226005782
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Of paramount importance to the natural sciences, the principles of Darwinism, which involve variation, inheritance, and selection, are increasingly of interest to social scientists as well. But no one has provided a truly rigorous account of how the principles apply to the evolution of human society - until now. In "Darwin's Conjecture", Geoffrey Hodgson and Thorbjorn Knudsen reveal how the British naturalist's core concepts apply to a wide range of phenomena, including business practices, legal systems, technology, and even science itself. They also critique some prominent objections to applying Darwin to social science, arguing that ultimately Darwinism functions as a general theoretical framework for stimulating further inquiry. Social scientists who adopt a Darwinian approach, they contend, can then use it to frame and help develop new explanatory theories and predictive models. This truly groundbreaking work at long last makes the powerful conceptual tools of Darwin available to the social sciences and will be welcomed by scholars and students from a range of disciplines.

About the Author

Geoffrey M. Hodgson is research professor at the University of Hertfordshire Business School, England, and the author or coauthor of over a dozen books, including The Evolution of Institutional Economics and How Economics Forgot History. Thorbjorn Knudsen is professor of strategic organization design at the University of Southern Denmark and has an extensive publication record specializing in evolutionary dynamics and adaptive organizations.