On the relationships between Friedrich Hayek and Jean Piaget
a new paradigm for cognitive and evolutionary economists
pp. 127-148
in: Roger Frantz, Robert Leeson (eds), Hayek and behavioral economics, Berlin, Springer, 2013Abstract
Epistemological investigation of knowledge formation is becoming of interest for cognitive and evolutionary economics. The old postulate of homo economicus has been challenged, triggering the need for new concepts of agency, rationality and individuality: given the constraints of human rationality (Simon, 1959) what can economic agents really know about the external world? Is their knowledge about facts objective or is it in some way arbitrary and influenced by their cognitive structures? The relationship between knowledge formation and cognitive structures has been recently investigated by new heterodox approaches in economics. Behavioral game theory, neuroeconomics, cognitive and evolutionary economics are studying the limits of human rationality in decision making, the consequent elaboration of rule-based behaviors and the importance of feedback processes between the individual and the surrounding environment, fostering epistemological inquiry. In particular, in the present chapter, we focused our attention on cognitive and evolutionary economics, presenting a methodological insight about the processes of knowledge formation and adaptation of the agents to the surmundine environment.
