The Evolutionary Limits of Liberalism
Democratic Problems, Market Solutions and the Ethics of Preference Satisfaction
Authors: Faria, Filipe Nobre
Free Preview- Studies the impact of liberal morality on the evolutionary fitness of social groups, concluding that such a morality has a detrimental impact
- Develops an evolutionary political theory of preference satisfaction that operates in the tradition of scientific realism and that constitutes a more accurate explanation of public choice
- Asserts that both liberal democracy and markets have a high potential in terms of maximising the satisfaction of individual preferences
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- About this book
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This book assesses the evolutionary sustainability of liberalism. The book’s central claim is that liberal institutions ultimately weaken their social groups in the evolutionary process of inter-group competition. In this sense, institutions relying on the liberal satisfaction of preferences reveal maladaptive tendencies. Based on the model of multilevel selection, this work appraises the capacity of liberal democracy and free markets to satisfy preferences. In particular, the book re-evaluates public choice theory’s classic postulate that free markets are a suitable alternative to the shortcomings of western liberal democracies regarding preference satisfaction. Yet, the book concludes that free markets are not a solution to the problems of liberal democracy because both market and democratic liberal institutions rest on the liberal satisfaction of preferences, an ethic which hurts group evolutionary fitness. This volume is of interest to political theorists, evolutionary ethicists, political economists and to general readers interested in the future of liberalism.
- About the authors
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Filipe Nobre Faria is Researcher and Lecturer in Political Philosophy and Ethics at the Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal. He earned his PhD in Political Theory (2016) from King’s College London and his Master’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (2011) from the University of East Anglia. His main research interest lies in applying the insights of the biological sciences to issues in social and political philosophy.
- Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Introduction
Pages 1-13
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From Public Choice to Evolutionary Theory
Pages 15-50
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Public Choice Theory: Liberal Democracy’s Shortcomings and Their Institutional Market-Enhancing Solutions
Pages 51-98
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The Evolutionary Framework: Multilevel Selection, Morality and Preferences
Pages 99-144
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Reassessing Liberal Democracy’s Shortcomings and Their Institutional Market-Enhancing Solutions
Pages 145-193
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- The Evolutionary Limits of Liberalism
- Book Subtitle
- Democratic Problems, Market Solutions and the Ethics of Preference Satisfaction
- Authors
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- Filipe Nobre Faria
- Series Title
- Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism
- Copyright
- 2019
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Copyright Holder
- The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-030-31496-5
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-31496-5
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-31495-8
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-31498-9
- Series ISSN
- 2662-6470
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XV, 239
- Number of Illustrations
- 1 b/w illustrations
- Topics
