Humanity and Nature in Economic Thought

"The remarkable strength of the book is its comprehensive explanation of how various thinkers have approached organic elements and seamlessly integrated them into their economic theories... This is well explained to readers and enables them to better understand the profound impact of organic dimensions on the field of economic thought." Volkan Ycel, Contemporary Sociology "...there is the splendid discussion by Antonello La Vergata of the relations between Darwinism and Malthusianism (chap. 4)...He emphasizes the moral dimension of the work of Malthus, a dimension that served as the link between the biological, the social, and the political sphere. It is this moral link on which social Darwinismis based and which, almost inevitably, leads to both the moralization of nature and the naturalization of society phenomena the dangers of which La Vergata warns against...All in all, this volume is a collection of one fascinating [chap. 4] and a couple of (more or less) interesting essays." Fritz Sllner, History of Political Economy

Gbor Br is an Assistant Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Philosophy and History of Science at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and a Research Fellow of the MTA Lendlet Morals and Science Research Group at the Research Centre for the Humanities, Budapest, Hungary. He was awarded the History of Economics Society 'Craufurd Goodwin Best Article Prize' in 2021 for his paper on Michael Polanyi and the first economics film, published in the Journal of the History of Economic Thought.

Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Sympathies for Common Ends: The Principles of Organization in Humes Psychology and Political Economy Chapter 3: Adam Smith on Organic Change in Moral Beliefs Chapter 4: Malthusianism In and Out of Darwinism. Naturalising Society and Moralising Nature? Chapter 5: J.S. Mills Understanding of the Organic Nature of Socialism Chapter 6: The Concept of Organic Growth in Marshalls Work Chapter 7: The Role of Keyness Idea of Organic Unity in his General Theory of Capitalism Chapter 8: Unintended Order and Self-Organization in the Evolutionary Social Theory of Friedrich Hayek Chapter 9: The Politics of Naturalizing the Economy: Organic Aspects in the Economic Thought of Karl and Michael Polanyi