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The evolution of Darwinian liberalism

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Abstract

From John Locke and Adam Smith to Herbert Spencer and Friedrich Hayek, the central idea of classical liberalism has been the thought that the social orders of morals, markets, laws, and politics can emerge as spontaneous orders—as largely self-regulating and unintended orders arising from the interaction of individuals pursuing their individual ends. Darwinian evolutionary science supports this idea by showing how evolutionary order can arise from the evolution of self-ownership, property, and mammalian sociality and the evolution of exchange and the division of labor. In developing these points, I argue for a Darwinian liberalism.

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Arnhart, L. The evolution of Darwinian liberalism. J Bioecon 17, 3–15 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-014-9190-z

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