A Study of Biological Methods in Economics : Smith, Marshal and Veblen Reconsidered

经济学中生物学方法的研究:史密斯、马歇尔和凡勃伦的重新思考

基本信息

批准号：
16530134
负责人：
TAKA Tetsuo
金额：
$ 1.86万
依托单位：
Kyushusangyo University
依托单位国家：
日本
项目类别：
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
财政年份：
2004
资助国家：
日本
起止时间：
2004 至 2006
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

Minute investigations on Adam Smith's Concept of instinct, Charles Darwin's social instincts, Alfred Marshall's attentions on the evolutionary biology and Thorstein Veblen's persistent emphasis on the importance of evolutionary methods of economic sciences elucidated the following fact.Comparative research between the human being and other animals, began under the strong influences of philosophical and scientific revolution in the period of enlightenment, eliminated the simple machinery understanding of man. In the revolutionary process, the studies of natural history that is biology showed great progress. Carolus Linnaeus and Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon played the important role in this scientific revolution as well as Isaac Newton. Works of Linnaeus and Buffon opened the way to the scientific understanding of human being. David Hume's experiments to understand human nature in a society or social conducts is obviously in this stream of the times, and so Smith's The Theory of Moral … More Sentiments is.Thoroughly overthrow of natural theological understanding of human nature established in the era of enlightenment was done by Darwin's theory of evolution, especially by The Decent of Man. His composite conception of instincts, that is, of the instinct of self-preservation (self-love) and social instinct (reciprocal altruism), was the true breakthrough. Two economists, Marshal and Veblen showed the positive reaction. While Marshal has been famous for his strong appeal to the economic biology, he failed to incorporate the institutional or biological theory of social development into his theoretical structure distinctly in his Economics. Veblen, on the other hand, succeeded to grasp to two kinds of instinct as the instinct of workmanship and emulation, and depicted clearly the evolutionary process of institutions as a successive release of social instincts of human being, that is an accumulative process of human nature, although the side of self-preservation was treated lightly. In this sense, we can say that Adam Smith's theory is the most evolutionary one, for his whole discussion is developed upon self-love and reciprocal altruism. Less

对亚当·斯密的本能概念、查尔斯·达尔文的社会本能、阿尔弗雷德·马歇尔对进化生物学的关注以及托斯坦·凡勃伦对经济科学进化方法的重要性的深入研究，阐明了以下事实。人类与其他动物的比较研究，在启蒙时期哲学和科学革命的强烈影响下，消除了人类简单的机械认识，在革命过程中，自然历史即生物学的研究呈现出巨大的进步。林奈和乔治-路易斯·勒克莱尔·德·布冯在这场科学革命中发挥了重要作用，而林奈和布冯的著作也为通过大卫·休谟的实验来了解社会中的人性开辟了道路。行为显然是在这个时代洪流中进行的，所以斯密的《道德情操论》彻底推翻了自然神学时代建立的对人性的理解。达尔文的进化论，特别是他的本能复合概念，即自我保护的本能（自爱）和社会本能（互惠利他主义），是真正的突破。马歇尔和凡勃伦两位经济学家对此做出了积极的反应，尽管马歇尔以其对经济生物学的强烈吸引力而闻名，但他在他的《经济学》中却未能将社会发展的制度或生物学理论明确地纳入他的理论结构中。凡勃伦则成功地抓住了工匠本能和竞争本能两种本能，并将制度的演化过程清晰地描绘成人类社会本能的不断释放，即人性的积累过程。，虽然自我保护的一面被轻视了，但从这个意义上来说，我们可以说亚当·斯密的理论是最具进化性的，因为他的整个讨论都是在自爱和互惠利他主义的基础上展开的。