Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorLEWIS, Orion
dc.contributor.authorSTEINMO, Sven
dc.date.accessioned2011-04-19T12:48:31Z
dc.date.available2011-04-19T12:48:31Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.identifier.citationTheory In Biosciences, 2010, 129, 02-mar, 235-245
dc.identifier.issn1431-7613
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/16539
dc.description.abstractIn this essay, we explore the epistemological and ontological assumptions that have been made to make political science scientific. We show how political science has generally adopted an ontologically reductionist philosophy of science derived from Newtonian physics and mechanics. This mechanical framework has encountered problems and constraints on its explanatory power, because an emphasis on equilibrium analysis is ill-suited for the study of political change. We outline the primary differences between an evolutionary ontology of social science and the physics-based philosophy commonly employed. Finally, we show how evolutionary thinking adds insight into the study of political phenomena and research questions that are of central importance to the field, such as preference formation.
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSpringer
dc.subjectPhilosophy of science
dc.subjectEvolutionary theory
dc.subjectComplex adaptive systems
dc.subjectBehavioralism
dc.subjectNew institutionalisms
dc.titleTaking Evolution Seriously in Political Science
dc.typeArticle
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s12064-010-0097-5
dc.identifier.volume129
dc.identifier.startpage235
dc.identifier.endpage245
eui.subscribe.skiptrue
dc.identifier.issue02-mar


Files associated with this item

FilesSizeFormatView

There are no files associated with this item.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record