AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS, EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS

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Advances in Austrian Economics

ISSN: 1529-2134
Series editor(s): Roger Koppl; Steven Horwitz

Subject Area: Economics

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Document Information:
Title:	AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS, EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS
Author(s):	Geoffrey M. Hodgson
Volume:	7 Editor(s): Roger Koppl ISBN: 978-0-76231-041-8 eISBN: 978-1-84950-294-8
Citation:	Geoffrey M. Hodgson (2005), AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS, EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS, in Roger Koppl (ed.) Evolutionary Psychology and Economic Theory (Advances in Austrian Economics, Volume 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.61-78
DOI:	10.1016/S1529-2134(04)07004-8 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
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.