Evolution, Complexity, and Intelligence: The Methodological Foundations of Evolutionary Liberalism

In evolutionary liberalism, exemplified by the Hayekian-Gaussian Open Society, a) liberal institutions and norms are explained (in part or wholly) with the help of evolutionary explanations; and b) such evolutionary explanations are assumed to carry normative weight in justifying liberalism. This paper argues that evolutionary liberalism is a methodologically and normatively appealing version of liberalism. The beneficial aspects of the Open Society can be cashed out, not merely in terms of complex adaptation, but also in terms of (collective) intelligence. The salutary epistemic properties of liberalism thus relate to its purported capacity to boost collective intelligence - or, what comes to the same thing, its general-purpose, open-ended problem solving capacity. A deeper methodological integration of the theories of evolution, complexity, and intelligence promises to increase the broad normative appeal of liberal institutions as efficient, general-purpose “problem solvers.”