Published In

Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Subjects

Evolutionary economics, Charles Darwin (1809-1882). On the origin of species -- Criticism and interpretation, Thorstein Veblen

Abstract

Our inquiry considers the origins of Evolutionary Economics by reintroducing a debate that took place in Russia in the 19th and early 20th century. Responses to Charles Darwin’s The origin of Species are considered, especially critiques stressing Darwin’s emphasis upon competition and struggle in natural selection, that can be traced directly to Thomas Robert Malthus. Considering challenging contributions made by several Russian scholars, we place special emphasis upon Peter Kropotkin’s focus on cooperation and “mutual aid” in natural selection and evolution. We then speculate upon the commonality found in the evolutionary views advanced by Kropotkin and his American contemporary, Thorstein Veblen.

Description

© The Author(s) 2017. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

DOI

10.1590/0101-31572017v37n03a05

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27874

Included in

Economics Commons

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