ePODstemology

What social science can learn from biology

September 16, 2021 Mark Fabian/Reuben Finigan Season 2 Episode 2
ePODstemology
What social science can learn from biology
Show Notes

What can social scientists learn from biology? A great deal, according to guest Reuben Finigan of the London School of Economics. The burgeoning field of sociobiology provides mind-blowing insights into sociological phenomena like cooperation, common pool resource management, corruption and rent seeking behaviour, how market actors try to deceive regulators, and the efficient provision of public goods. Many of these insights are derived from applying models from the biological sciences, typically using evolutionary game theory, to questions in the social and behavioural sciences. Tune and find out how much we can learn from bees, ants, zebras, wolves, monkeys, flowers, fungus, and genes about how we should design institutions and regulations for the common good.