Biology and Economics

The relationship between economics and biology is historically important. The core idea in biology is Darwin’s theory of the origin of species through natural selection. Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) was not the only one to come up with that. Around the same time, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 – 1913) also proposed the mechanism.

Wallace was “an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 paper on the subject was published that year alongside extracts from Charles Darwin’s earlier writings on the topic. It spurred Darwin to set aside the “big species book” he was drafting and quickly write an abstract of it, which was published in 1859 as On the Origin of Species.” [wiki]

There’s a third person in this story — the Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 – 1833). In 1798 he anonymously published his book An Essay on the Principle of Population. What’s curious is that both Darwin and Wallace had read Malthus’s book, and were clearly influenced by his thesis that the competition for food was central to survival, and therefore for reproduction.

In his autobiography, Darwin wrote:

In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic enquiry, I happened to read for amusement ‘Malthus on Population,’ and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here then I had at last got a theory by which to work; but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice, that I determined not for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it. In June 1842 I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract of my theory in pencil in 35 pages; and this was enlarged during the summer of 1844 into one of 230 pages…

In every sense of the term, Malthus was an economist. Therefore a very strong case can be made that an economist influenced how two important thinkers came up with the central idea in biology. Economics and biology are intimately related because the actions of all living things (plants, animals) can be understood in terms of the principles of economics.

Charles Darwin

Darwin was one of the greatest scientist ever. His (and Wallace’s) theory of natural selection, descent with modification, “survival of the fittest” (Herbert Spencer’s phrase) — all point to his singular genius in observing nature. His was a study focused on life, and it should come as no surprise that he was a deeply moral person.

Writing is downstream of thinking. The clarity of his thinking is revealed in his many books. His prose was delightful and elegant. We are too busy to read him at length; we need a short cut. Here are a few quotes from the wikiquote page on Darwin:

• • There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
  • A republic cannot succeed, till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
  • . . . if the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.
  • It has often and confidently been asserted, that man’s origin can never be known: but ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
  • I should premise that I use the term Struggle for Existence in a large and metaphorical sense, including dependence of one being on another, and including (which is more important) not only the life of the individual, but success in leaving progeny.
  • As man advances in civilisation, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races.
  • The highest stage in moral culture at which we can arrive, is when we recognise that we ought to control our thoughts.
  • Disinterested love for all living creatures, the most noble attribute of man.
  • False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often long endure; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, as every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened.
  • The moral faculties are generally esteemed, and with justice, as of higher value than the intellectual powers. But we should always bear in mind that the activity of the mind in vividly recalling past impressions is one of the fundamental though secondary bases of conscience. This fact affords the strongest argument for educating and stimulating in all possible ways the intellectual faculties of every human being.

1859 Events

Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published on Nov 24th, 1859. What other important events happened in that year? I select these from the wiki:

• • February 14 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
  • March 3 – Construction begins on the first railway in northern India as tracks are laid between the modern-day locations of Allahabad and Kanpur.
  • April 18 – Indian Rebellion revolutionary, Tatya Tope is hanged for the 1857 Rebellion
  • April 25 – Ground is broken for the Suez Canal, in Egypt.
  • July 11 – The chimes of Big Ben ring for the first time in London.

Most significantly, the first oil well in the world was drilled on Aug 27  near Titusville, Pennsylvania, starting the Pennsylvania oil rush.

That’s it for now. Shout out to Stuart B for being a fan of this blog.

Related post: Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day — Feb 12th, 1809.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist. View all posts by Atanu Dey