Evolutionary Theory in Social Science

In retrospect the 19th century tmdoubtedly seems to be the century of evolutionism. The 'discovery of time' and therewith the experience of variability was made by many sciences: not only historians worked on the elaboration and interpretation of this discovery, but also physicists, geographers, biologists and economists, demographers, archaelogists, and even philosophers. The successful empirical fotmdation of evolutive processes by Darwin and his disciples suggested Herbert Spencer's vigorously pursued efforts in searching for an extensive' catalogue of prime and deduced evolutionary principles that would allow to integrate the most different disciplines of natural and social sciences as well as the efforts of philosophers of ethics and epistemologists. Soon it became evident, however, that the claim for integration anticipated by far the actual results of these different disciplines. Darwin I s theory suffered from the fact that in the beginning a hereditary factor which could have his theory could not be detected, while the gainings of grotmd supported in the social sciences got lost in consequence of the completely ahistorical or biologistic speculations of some representatives of the evolutionary research programm and common socialdarwinistic misinterpretations.

Contenu

Basic Structures in Human Action. On the Relevance of Bio-Social Categories for Social Theory.- I. The Problem.- II. Some Preconditions of Behavioural Patterns.- III. Taking Phenotypes Seriously: Critical Remarks on Sociobiology.- IV. Secondary Type Explanations do not Explain away Primary Type Explanations.- V. Biosociology: A Levels Model of Man.- VI. The Incest Taboo: A Biosociological View.- VII. The Human Biogram and the Role of Cultural Institutionsl.- VIII. Conclusion.- Notes.- Evolutionary Models and Social Theory. Prospects and Problems.- I. Introduction.- II. Social Darwinism.- III. Animal Sociobiology.- IV. Human Sociobiology.- V. The Evolution of Morality.- VI. The Status of Morality.- VII. Relativism?.- VIII. Relatives, Friends, and Strangers.- IX. Prospects.- X. Conclusion.- Evolution, Causality and Human Freedom. The Open Society from a Biological Point of View.- I. Introduction.- II. The Systems-Theoretic Approach to Evolution: Darwin and Beyond.- III. The Evolution of Man: Beyond Determination and Destiny.- IV. The Evolution of Man: Beyond Physicalism and Mentalism.- V. Evolution and the Open Society.- VI. Conclusion.- Notes.- Collective Action and the Selection of Rules. Some Notes on the Evolutionary Paradigm in Social Theory.- I. On the Genesis of the Social Theory of Evolution.- II. The Logical Structure of a Theory of Structural Selection.- III. An Action-Theoretical Interpretation of the Theory of Structural Selection.- IV. The Heuristics of the Theory of Structural Selection.- V. Conclusion.- Notes.- Learning and the Evolution of Social Systems. An Epigenetic Perspective.- I. Evolution and the Role of the Epigenetic System.- II. Epigenesis and Evolution in Sociological Theorizing.- III. Epigenetic Developments and Social Evolution.- IV. An Epigenetic Theory of the Formation of the State.- V. Conclusion.- Notes.- Evolution and Political Control. A Synopsis of a General Theory of Politics.- I. Introduction.- II. The Theoretical Problem.- III. Evolutionary Causation.- IV. Functional Synergism.- V. The Cybernetic Model.- VI. A General Theory of Politics.- VII. Some Theoretical Implications.- VIII. Conclusion.- Media and Markets.- I. Introduction.- II. The Selectionist Program.- III. Money and Language: Two Models for General Media of Interaction.- IV. The Institutionalization of the Media Codes: Structural Requirements.- V. Communities, Hierarchies and Markets.- VI. Political, Socially Intergrative and Scientific Markets.- VII. Concluding Remarks: Media Between Inflation and Deflation.- Notes.- The Self as a Parasite. A Sociological Criticism of Popper's Theory of Evolution.- I. Introduction.- II. Dualism, Trialism or Pluralism ?.- III. Descarters1 Problem.- IV. Propensities as Collective Social Forces: Durkheim.- V. The Self as a Parasite.- VI. Epistemology and the Knowing Subject.- Notes.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.