Between a rock and a hard place: second thoughts on Laibman's Deep History and the theory of punctuated equilibrium with regard to intellectual evolutionY

YALÇINTAŞ A.

JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL ECONOMICS, cilt.6, sa.1, 2012 (ESCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 6 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2012
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL ECONOMICS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: punctuated equilibrium, continual progress, perfection, intellectual path dependence, PATH DEPENDENCE
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

In this article I reconsider Laibman's Deep History (2007) in the light of Niles Eldredge and Stephan Jay Gould's theory of punctuated equilibrium. I argue that the theory of punctuated equilibrium explains (1) why conceptions of inevitability and directionality in intellectual evolution may not be as useful as Laibman thinks they are in the context of social evolution and (2) why stasis (that is, intellectual path dependence) in intellectual evolution does not allow different pathways of thought to converge.