The Consilient Brain: The Bioneurological Basis of Economics, Society, and PoliticsThe present work is the third in a series constituting an extension of my doctoral thesis done at Stanford in the early 1970s. Like the earlier works, The Reciprocal Modular Brain in Economics and Politics, Shaping the Rational and Moral Basis of Organization, Exchange, and Choice (Kluwer AcademicfPlenum Publishing, 1999) and Toward Consilience: The Bioneurological Basis of Behavior, Thought, Experience, and Language (Kluwer AcademicfPlenum Publishing, 2000), it may also be considered to respond to the call for consilience by Edward O. Wilson. I agree with Wilson that there is a pressing need in the sciences today for the unification of the social with the natural sciences. I consider the present work to proceed from the perspective of behavioral ecology, specifically a subfield which I choose to call interpersonal behavioral ecology. Ecology, as a general field, has emerged in the last quarter of the 20th century as a major theme of concern as we have become increasingly aware that we must preserve the planet whose limited resources we share with all other earthly creatures. Interpersonal behavioral ecology, however, focuses not on the physical environment, but upon our social environment. It concerns our interpersonal behavioral interactions at all levels, from simple dyadic one-to-one personal interactions to our larger, even global, social, economic, and political interactions. |
Contents
7 | |
The Conflict Systems Neurobehavioral Model | 26 |
Physics vs Social | 37 |
1 | 54 |
15 | 71 |
Neural Architecture and Price Theory 73 | 72 |
SelfInterest and the SelfReference Fallacy | 79 |
Neural Architecture and the Market Calculus | 83 |
37 | 121 |
NEURAL ARCHITECTURE IN SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND GLOBAL POLITICS | 124 |
Evolution Science and Society 127 | 125 |
Inclusive Social Fitness and Evolutionary Neuroscience | 135 |
The Neural Dynamic Exchange and Social Structure | 139 |
The Neural Dynamic and Our Political Choices | 149 |
Global Politics Reciprocity and the CSN Model | 159 |
THE NEURAL FOUNDATIONS OF JUSTICE MORALS AND ETHICS | 164 |
The Neural Dynamic in Equilibrium Modeling | 87 |
NEURAL ARCHITECTURE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS | 93 |
The Neural Dynamic and Scarcity 95 | 94 |
29 | 97 |
Institutions Organizations and Reciprocity | 103 |
Williamson and Transaction Cost Economics | 109 |
33 | 110 |
The Perspective of Douglass North 117 | 116 |
The Concept of Justice | 167 |
Our Moral Consciousness | 173 |
The CSN Model vs the Maslow Hierarchy 181 | 180 |
The Neural Foundations of the Invisible Hand | 184 |
Conclusion | 187 |
References 213 | 223 |
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Common terms and phrases
algorithms of behavior algorithms of reciprocity altruism analysis approach assumption basic behavioral tension Chapter choice cognitive conflict constraints cooperation cortex CSN model demand and supply dynamic balance economic theory economists effect ego and empathy egoistic emergence empathetic emphasis environment evolution evolutionary neuroscience evolutionary psychology evolved brain structure expression function fundamental gift gift economy global Hamilton's rule hierarchy homeostatic human brain human nature individual inequalities inevitable institutional economics interaction intuited justice limbic limbic system MacLean mammalian mammals market exchange system Maslow math mathematical Mencius moral Nash equilibrium needs neocortex neural architecture neural dynamic neuroethology normative organization other-interest paradigm Paul MacLean perspective physical political price theory productivity pull of ego reciprocal algorithms Reiner relationship represents scarcity self-interest self-preservation and affection social brain social equation social exchange system society transaction cost economics transaction costs triune brain triune brain concept tug and pull tug-and-pull University Press wealth maximizing Williamson