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The Evolutionary Framework: Multilevel Selection, Morality and Preferences

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The Evolutionary Limits of Liberalism

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism ((PASTCL))

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Abstract

Chapter four develops the evolutionary framework with which to assess the postulates of public choice theory on markets and liberal democracy and to assess the evolutionary desirability of the liberal satisfaction of preferences. Specifically, this chapter theorises about how to apply multilevel selection to social groups and explains how morality is a fundamental element to understand preferences. It also describes how morality/culture can be adaptive or maladaptive, discussing the interdependence between moral/cultural evolution and genetic evolution through the logic of gene-culture coevolution. Finally, chapter four examines the process of moral and political framing to show that preferences are not well defined a priori because of largely depending on group morality.

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  1. Nova University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Filipe Nobre Faria

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Faria, F.N. (2019). The Evolutionary Framework: Multilevel Selection, Morality and Preferences. In: The Evolutionary Limits of Liberalism. Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31496-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31496-5_4

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