The Consilient Brain (2^nd Ed., 2nd ed. 2004) The Bioneurological Basis of Economics, Society, and Politics

The present work is the third in a series constituting an extension of my doctoral thesis done at Stanford in the early 1970s. Like the earlier works, The Reciprocal Modular Brain in Economics and Politics, Shaping the Rational and Moral Basis of Organization, Exchange, and Choice (Kluwer AcademicfPlenum Publishing, 1999) and Toward Consilience: The Bioneurological Basis of Behavior, Thought, Experience, and Language (Kluwer AcademicfPlenum Publishing, 2000), it may also be considered to respond to the call for consilience by Edward O. Wilson. I agree with Wilson that there is a pressing need in the sciences today for the unification of the social with the natural sciences. I consider the present work to proceed from the perspective of behavioral ecology, specifically a subfield which I choose to call interpersonal behavioral ecology. Ecology, as a general field, has emerged in the last quarter of the 20th century as a major theme of concern as we have become increasingly aware that we must preserve the planet whose limited resources we share with all other earthly creatures. Interpersonal behavioral ecology, however, focuses not on the physical environment, but upon our social environment. It concerns our interpersonal behavioral interactions at all levels, from simple dyadic one-to-one personal interactions to our larger, even global, social, economic, and political interactions.

1. Introduction.- I. The Dynamic of Our Consilient Social Brain.- 2. The Maslow Hierarchy of Needs vs. MacLean’s Triune Brain.- 3. The Conflict Systems Neurobehavioral Model.- 4. The Global-State Algorithms of Reciprocal Behavior.- 5. The Dynamic Equation of Our Neural Architecture.- 6. The Homeostatic Regulation of Our Social Neural Architecture.- 7. The Question of Science: Physics vs. Social.- II. Neural Architecture, Reciprocity And The Market.- 8. Reciprocity and the Evolution of the Market.- 9. The Misrepresentation of Adam Smith.- 10. The Neural Foundations of the Invisible Hand.- 11. The Neural Basis of General Equilibrium Theory.- 12. Friedrich Hayek and Wishful Thinking.- 13. Neural Architecture and Price Theory.- 14. Self-interest and the Self-Reference Fallacy.- 15. Neural Architecture and the Market Calculus.- 16. The Neural Dynamic in Equilibrium Modeling.- III. Neural Architecture In Political Economy And Institutional Economics.- 17. Political Economy: The Neural Dynamic and Scarcity.- 18. Institutions, Organizations, and Reciprocity.- 19. The New Institutional Economics: Williamson and Transaction Cost Economics.- 20. The New Institutional Economics: The Perspective of Douglass North.- IV. Neural Architecture In Social Structure And Global Politics.- 21. Evolution, Science, and Society.- 22. Inclusive Social Fitness and Evolutionary Neuroscience.- 23. The Neural Dynamic, Exchange, and Social Structure.- 24. The Neural Dynamic and Our Political Choices.- 25. Global Politics, Reciprocity, and the CSN Model.- V. The Neural Foundations Of Justice, Morals, And Ethics.- 26. The Concept of Justice.- 27. Our Moral Consciousness.- 28. The CSN Model vs. the Maslow Hierarchy.- 29. Conclusion.- Appendix I. The Mismeasure of MacLean.- Appendix II. A New Paradigm for Thinking about Global Economics and Politics.- References.