Friday, July 8, 2016

Constructivist and Ecological Rationality #1


Friedrich Hayek identified both kinds of rationality but did not give a name to the second. The following quotes from the book give the essence of the two concepts.

     “Constructivist rationality, applied to individuals or organizations, involves the deliberate use of reason to analyze and prescribe actions judged to be better than alternative feasible actions that might be chosen. When applied to institutions, constructivism involves the deliberate design of rule systems to achieve desirable performance.  [ ]       
       Ecological rationality refers to emergent order in the form of the practices, norms, and evolving institutional rules governing action by individuals and institutions that are part of our cultural and biological heritage and are created by human interactions, but not by conscious human design.

       The two concepts are not inherently in opposition; the issues are emphatically not about constructivist versus ecological rationality, as some might infer or prefer, and in fact the two can and do work together. For example, in evolutionary processes, constructivist cultural innovations can provide variations while ecological fitness processes do the work of selection” (p. 2). 

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