WHAT CAN EVOLVED MINDS KNOW OF GOD? AN ASSESSMENT FROM THE STANDPOINT OF EVOLUTIONARY EPISTEMOLOGY

This paper aims to present Hayek?s view of cultural evolution as an important contribution to contemporary evolutionary epistemology. However, despite the importance of Hayek?s theory of cultural evolution, the tension between his concept of rational liberalism and evolutionary epistemology will be pointe out. This tension limits Hayek?s understanding of cultural evolution. Hayek?s conception of rational liberalism emphasizes the values of individual freedom and benefits of the market system. The term evolutionary epistemology includes the economic phenomena that occur without the participation of consciousness, on the one hand, and activities with the element of purposefulness and intelligibility, on the other.

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Reflections about Evolutionary Epistemology: EEM Program and EET Program

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (ICADCE 2017) ◽

10.2991/icadce-17.2017.205 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Qiaohua Ren ◽

Jingzhu Zhang

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Epistemology

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What Sort of Science Is Evolutionary Biology?

Dialogue ◽

10.1017/s0012217300013391 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 30 (1-2) ◽

pp. 129-142

Author(s):

Mohan Matthen

Keyword(s):

Population Biology ◽

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Evolutionary Epistemology ◽

Main Theme ◽

Semantic Account ◽

Methodological Problems ◽

Methodological Aspects

Paul Thompson's new book,The Structure of Biological Theories, is about the formalization of evolutionary biology. He is primarily concerned, he says, with the logical, epistemological, and methodological aspects of biological theorizing. The main theme of the book is the opposition between what Thompson calls the syntactic and the semantic conceptions of theories. He wishes to establish that the semantic account is superior to the syntactic in at least three areas: first, it offers a more faithful account of population biology; second, it facilitates a conception of evolutionary biology as a family of interacting theories; finally, it offers us a richer framework for the resolution of methodological problems that have plagued sociobiology and evolutionary epistemology.

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