Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evolutionary Theorizing Beyond Lamarckism: a reply to Richard Nelson

  • Discussion
  • Published:
Journal of Evolutionary Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Notes

  1. Some of these have been considered in companion articles, particularly Hodgson and Knudsen (2006a).

  2. An oft quoted passage reads: ‘our theory is unabashedly Lamarckian: it contemplates both the ‘inheritance’ of acquired characters and the timely appearance of variation under the stimulus of adversity.’ (Nelson and Winter 1982, p. 11). However, Nelson offers a new characterization of Lamarckism in his commentary on our ‘Dismantling Lamarckism’ article.

  3. Nelson also adds another meaning of Lamarckism, namely the idea that change is purposeful rather than strictly random. As we explained in our article, in the obvious and general sense that ‘most living organisms anticipate, choose, and strive for prefigured goals’, this meaning of Lamarckism is uncontroversial and does not exclude Darwinism.

  4. Over the last 100 years, 255 articles in the 27 journals representing the economics literature in JSTOR have used the terms Darwinism or Darwinian. In contrast, only 11 articles in these journals have used the terms Lamarckism or Lamarckian in the same period.

  5. Nelson and Winter (1982, p. 11; emphasis in original) wrote: ‘We are pleased to exploit any idea from biology that seems helpful in the understanding of economic problems, but we are equally prepared to pass over anything that seems awkward, or to modify accepted biological theories radically in the interest of getting better economic theory.’

References

  • Becker MC, Knudsen T, March JG (2006) Schumpeter, winter, and the sources of novelty. Ind Corp Change 15(2):353–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harré R, Madden EH (1975) Causal powers: a theory of natural necessity. Basil Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek FA (1988) The fatal conceit: the errors of socialism. The collected works of Friedrich August Hayek, vol I. In: Bartley WW III (ed) Routledge, London

  • Hodgson GM, Knudsen T (2004) The firm as an interactor: firms as vehicles for habits and routines. J Evol Econ 14(3):281–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson GM, Knudsen T (2006a) Why we need a generalized Darwinism: and why a generalized Darwinism is not enough. J Econ Behav Organ 61(1):1–19, September

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson GM, Knudsen T (2006b) Dismantling Lamarckism: why descriptions of socio-economic evolution as Lamarckian are misleading. J Evol Econ 16(4):343–366, October 2006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson RR, Winter SG (1982) An evolutionary theory of economic change. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper KR (1990) A world of propensities. Thoemmes, Bristol

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Business School, University of Hertfordshire, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK

    Geoffrey M. Hodgson & Thorbjørn Knudsen

  2. Strategic Organization Design Unit (SOD), Department of Marketing and Management, University of Southern Denmark, Odense Campus, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Geoffrey M. Hodgson & Thorbjørn Knudsen

Authors
  1. Geoffrey M. Hodgson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thorbjørn Knudsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geoffrey M. Hodgson.

Additional information

This reply refers to the comment available at: doi 10.1007/s00191-007-0061-9. The original article is available at: doi 10.1007/s00191-006-0019-3.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hodgson, G.M., Knudsen, T. Evolutionary Theorizing Beyond Lamarckism: a reply to Richard Nelson. J Evol Econ 17, 353–359 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-007-0062-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-007-0062-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation