European Business Schools Librarian's Group
ESSEC Working Papers,
ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School
No DR 07004: Rationalizing the Irrational. The Principle of Relative Maximization from Sociobiology to Economics and Its Implications for Ethics
Mircea Boari ()
Additional contact information
Mircea Boari: ESSEC Business School, Postal: Avenue Bernard Hirsch - BP 50105, 95021 CERGY-PONTOISE Cedex, FRANCE
Abstract: Starting with the concept of “rational maximizing individual”, a meta-construct with foundational value in economics and, in general, in human sciences, the paper delineates the territory of an ethics of rationality. It does this by taking fulcrum in findings from evolutionary theory, in particular those regarding spiteful behavior. The paper formulates the principle of “differential fitness maximization”, as expression of relative maximization of fitness and derives its consequences, among which, a core set of normative propositions grounding the said ethics. Thus, the paper strengthens the backbone of the Western philosophical tradition which, in essence, always associated ethical conduct with reason and individualism.
Keywords: Evolutionary Ethics; Fitness; Normative Ethics; Rational Maximization; Spite
JEL-codes: A19; B52; C73; D01; P00; Z19
44 pages, February 2007
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