09.28.08
More from Wilson at Huffpost
David Sloan Wilson has second piece after his original The Invisible Hand ID Dead…, with commentary from Pigliucci, Arnhart, and here, here at Darwiniana, with a search box long list here
Pigliucci rightly criticizes the crypto-sociobiological arguments about human nature. And Arnhart in his strange inverted consistency seems right to point out the invisible hand mythology latent in Darwinism–he doesn’t call it a myth.
To Wilson, I would say you can’t change the rules in the middle of the game and still cling to Darwinian fundamentals. And in any case the application of Darwinism, or revised Darwinism, or any evolutionary theory to the context of an economic situation simply confuses the issue. But the discussion betrays the conscious/unconscious confusion of biological and economic theory.
Here is a comment I left at the Huffpost article site:
The polarization of evolutionary theory, Darwinism, along left/right lines here is confusing and counterproductive: the real issue is the hidden and incestuous match of classical liberalism and Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Trying to bail out basic Darwinism for post free-market ideology is a pointless exercise, Darwinism as such needs to be thrown out. The public needs to call the bluff on this attempted bailout of the maddeningly persistent Darwinism which left/liberals can’t see through or bring themselves to drop. Darwinism was always a peculiar clone of classical liberalism and invisible hand theories. Trying to make it safe for Huffington post liberals is an exercise in deceptive mental gymnastics.
Neo-Darwinism is dead. We should note that Pigliucci recently attended the Altenberg conference on evolution where a whole slew of post-darwinist theories came into the open. It’s over guys, OK? It would be nice if the liberal/left could get past the Darwin propaganda machine.
The clever fix of evolutionary theory in the work of group/kin selectionists, reflected in Wilson’s work, doesn’t on any account resolve the complexities of evolutionary ethics.
For a postdarwinian perspective seehttp://eonic-effect.net
and some commentary at Darwiniana blog
http://darwiniana.com/2008/09/21/if-the-invisible-hand-is-dead-so-is-darwinism-no-bailout-for-darwins-theory/
http://darwiniana.com/2008/09/21/darwinian-junk-theory-reaches-the-bailout-debate/