From Teleology to Evolution

This paper focuses on the uneasy alliance of rational choice and evolutionary explanations in modern economics. While direct evolutionary explanations of "optimality" rule out "purposeful" rational choice by assuming zero-intelligence and pure rational choice explanations leave no room for selective adaptation the indirect evolutionary approach integrates both perspectives. Subsequently we go stepwise "from teleology to evolution" and thereby study the model spectrum ranging from pure rational choice over indirect to direct approaches. We believe that knowledge of this spectrum can help to choose more adequate models of economic behavior that incorporate both teleological and evolutionary elements.