Evolutionary Social Theory and Political Economy traces the origins, extension, marginalization and revival of evolutionary approaches to social theory from the Enlightenment through the beginning of the 21st century. It demonstrates how changes in understandings of social evolution corresponded to changes in definitions of Political Economy and how both reflected changes in the Philosophy of Science. This book is written for students and researchers alike in all the social sciences. Economists will benefit from understanding how ideas about evolution in Economics corresponded to ideas about evolution in other social sciences, and Social Scientists outside of Economics will benefit from understanding how Economics has related to their discipline.
Author(s): Clifford S. Poirot Jr.
Series: Economics as Social Theory, 51
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 218
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Introduction
Goal and Purpose of this Study
Scope and Method of this Study
Plan of this Study
1 The Origins of Evolutionary Social Theory
Introduction
Natural Philosophy and the Newtonian World View
Civil, or Moral Philosophy
Philosophical History and Political Economy in the Scottish and French Enlightenment
Conclusion
2 The Development of Evolutionary Social Theory: 1815–1871
Introduction
Philosophy of Science in the Early and Mid-19th Century
Evolutionary Theory: Biological and Social before Darwin
The Trajectory of Political Economy
Darwin’s Biology
The Ramifications of Darwin’s Theories
Conclusion
3 Social Evolutionism and Political Economy after Darwin
Introduction
Darwin’s Impact on Philosophy of Science
The More General Theory of Sociology
The End of Political Economy: Marx, Marshall and Veblen
Conclusion
4 The Dénouement of Evolutionary Social Theory
Introduction
Philosophy of Science in the Early and Mid-20th Century
Evolutionary Social Theory: Marginalization and Reaction in the Social Sciences
Conclusion
5 The Resurrection of Evolutionary Social Theory: Back to the Center?
Introduction
Philosophy of Science: Neo-Positivism
Ontology and Epistemology: Critical Realism and Critical Common Sensism
Contemporary Evolutionary Biology: An Overview
Biology and Evolutionary Social Theory
Toward the Neo-Evolutionary Synthesis
Conclusion
6 Conclusion
Index
