AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS, EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS

Abstract

Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Ludwig Lachmann and George Shackle upheld that investigations of the causes of purposes, preferences, beliefs or behaviors by the social scientist were unwarranted. Shackle proposed that human agency is an “uncaused cause.” Others admitted that human volitions and actions are caused, but ruled out explanations of these causes from social science. By considering Darwinian insights from modern evolutionary psychology, this essay criticizes the view that causal investigations of human volitions and actions are beyond social science. These insights also point to the role of habit and instinct in human behavior.

Citation

Hodgson, G.M. (2005), "AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS, EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS", Koppl, R. (Ed.) Evolutionary Psychology and Economic Theory (Advances in Austrian Economics, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 61-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1529-2134(04)07004-8