An Evolutionary Account of Law

The Role of Evolutionary Thinking in Legal Theory and Philosophy
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-12161-5
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 276 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 511 g

Reihe: Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism

This book offers a comprehensive, modern understanding of legal philosophy through an evolutionary lens. Taking a highly interdisciplinary approach throughout, the book first explores the history of ‘classic evolutionism’, regarding theories of law and justice from the authors of the Scottish Enlightenment to Hayek. The second part of the book analyses the contributions of new schools of thought, including evolutionary psychology, evolutionary game theory and co-evolutionist theories. The final part of the book builds a fresh argument for a modern evolutionary account of law, considering key methodological debates and the evolution at its three levels – biological, social and individual – to explain the emergence, stabilization and change of legal rules.

This book is a timely addition to the growing interest in evolutionary thinking across the sciences, and will be of interest to a wide range of scholars including historians and philosophers of law as those interested in the intersection of law and psychology, law and economics, and the classical liberal tradition.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Santanatoglia, Eliana María

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Operations Research Spieltheorie
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtstheorie, Rechtsmethodik, Rechtsdogmatik, Rechtsprechungslehre
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

General Introduction.- PART I – Classic Evoluntionism.- Chapter 1 – Justice and Law for the Eighteen-Century Scottish Enlightenment.- Chapter 2 – Law for Friedrich A. Hayek.- Chapter 3 – Main Contributions of Classic Evolutionism to the Study of Law.- PART II –New Evolutionary Perspectives in Social Sciences.- Chapter 4 – Panorama of New Evolutionary Perspectives in Social Sciences.- Chapter 5 – The Biological View.- Chapter 6 – Cultural Evolutionism – Evolutionary Game Theory.- Chapter 7 – Co-Evolutionism.- PART III – Evolutionary Account of Law.- Chapter 8 – The Bricks of an Evolutionary Account of Law.- Chapter 9 – More Bricks to an Evolutionary Account of Law – Rationality and Levels of Evolution.- Chapter 10 – Law as the Outcome of a Permanent Process of Emergence, Stability and Change of Rules and Institutions.

Über Autor(innen)

Eliana María Santanatoglia is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy of Law at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the co-founder and Executive Director of the David Hume Institute Foundation – Centre for Research in Normative and Institutional Evolution. Her main areas of research are legal theory, constitutional law, moral and political philosophy, the philosophy of social sciences and the interrelationship between these disciplines, with special interest in the evolutionary view of rules and institutions.