Veblen’s Two Types of Instinct and the Cognitive Foundations of Evolutionary-Institutional Economics

Vincent Barnett

Journal of Economic Issues, 2017, vol. 51, issue 2, 541-562

Abstract: In this article, I provide a detailed examination of Thorstein Veblen’s conception of instincts, what he believed were the “prime movers in human behavior.” I outline the meaning of his division of instincts into simple and complex forms, and also document his account of their operational function and evolutionary origins. I then evaluate this understanding in relation to the new field of evolutionary psychology, and demonstrate how Veblen conceived of these instincts as interacting with habits and institutions. Finally, I illustrate one method of how the bio-cognitive level of behavioral reality could be integrated with the socio-institutional level of behavioral reality, and how an intermediate-interactive level between these two could have been generated. By doing so, I emphasize the need for scientifically accurate cognitive foundations to evolutionary-institutional economics (EIE)

Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:51:y:2017:i:2:p:541-562

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DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2017.1321453

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