06: Societies as complex systems: Creativity, spontaneous order and emergence in social and economic processes
The issue of how individual human behavior and collective social phenomena can be understood in terms of each other has been a subject of controversy throughout the modern history of the social sciences. The seminar will address central aspects of this issue in light of recent developments in evolutionary theory, cognitive science, the study of complex systems and other fields. The topics to be discussed include methodological individualism, spontaneous order, emergence, cultural evolution and the role of creativity and novelty in social and economic processes.
Blitz, David (1992) Emergent Evolution: Qualitative Novelty and the Levels of Reality, Kluwer.
Hayek, F. A. (1967) “The Theory of Complex Phenomena”, in: F. A. Hayek, Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, The University of Chicago Press, 22-42.
Hayek, F. A. (1973) “Cosmos and Taxis”, in: F.A. Hayek, Rules and Order, Vol. 1 of Law, Legislation and Liberty, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 35-54.
Hodgson, Geoffrey M. (2004) The Evolution of Institutional Economics: Agency, Structure and Darwinism in American Institutionalism (London and New York: Routledge). Chapters 1-12, 19-21.
Hodgson, Geoffrey M. (2007, forthcoming) “Meanings of Methodological Individualism”, Journal of Economic Methodology.
Sawyer, R. Keith (2005) Social Emergence “Societies As Complex Systems”, Cambridge University Press (chpts. 1-3, 10).
Udehn, Lars (2002) “The Changing Face of Methodological Individualism” Annual Review of Sociology 28, 479-507.
Vanberg, Viktor J. (1994) “Cultural Evolution, Collective Learning and Constitutional Design” in: David Reisman (ed.), Economic Thought and Political Theory, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 171-204.
Supplementary readings:
Auyang, Sunny Y. (1998) Foundations of Complex-System Theories: In Economics, Evolutionary Biology, and Statistical Physics (New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Buchanan, James M. and Viktor J. Vanberg (1991), “The Market as a Creative Process” Economics and Philosophy 7, 167-186.
Hodgson, Geoffrey M. and Knudsen, Thorbjørn (2006) “Why We Need a Generalized Darwinism: and Why a Generalized Darwinism is Not Enough”, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 61(1), September, pp. 1-19.
Holland, John H. (1998) Emergence “From Chaos to Order”, Helix Books.
Richerson, Peter J. and Boyd, Robert (2004) Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
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Geoffrey M. HODGSON
Research Professor in Business Studies, University of Hertfordshire
| 1964-1965 | Computer Programmer, STL Research, Harlow, Essex |
| 1968-1972 | Teacher of Mathematics, Levenshulme High School, Manchester and Audenshaw Grammar School, Thameside |
| 1974-1981 | Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Economics, Manchester Metropolitan University (then Manchester Polytechnic) |
| 1980-1981 | Visiting Professor of Economics, Bennington College, Vermont, USA |
| 1981-1987 | Principal Lecturer in Economics, University of Northumbria (then Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic) |
| 1984-1985 | Hallsworth Research Fellow in Political Economy, University of Manchester |
| 1987-1990 | Reader in Economics, University of Northumbria (then Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic) |
| 1990-1992 | Professor of Economics, University of Northumbria (formerly Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic) |
| 1992-1998 | University Lecturer in Economics, University of Cambridge |
| 1998 | Reader in Institutional and Evolutionary Economics, University of Cambridge |
| since 1999 | Research Professor in Business Studies, University of Hertfordshire |
Dr. Viktor VANBERG
Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Freiburg; Senior Research Associate, Walter Eucken Institut, Freiburg
| 1968 | Dipl. Soz., Universität Münster |
| 1975 | Dr. phil., TU Berlin |
| 1981 | Habilitation, Universität Mannheim |
| 1984-1995 | Professor of Economics, George Mason University, Virginia, USA |
| 1995-2009 | Professor für Wirtschaftspolitik, Universität Freiburg i. Br. |
| 2001-2010 | Direktor des Walter Eucken Instituts, Freiburg i. Br. |
