Der Mensch, das riskierte Wesen: Zur Naturgeschichte menschlicher Unvernunft

by irenaus-eibl-eibesfeldt

German

Genres: Sociology

277 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Tomas Kristofory · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this (Eibl-Eibesfeldt was a student of Konrad Lorenz) I can say that Hayek's interest in anthropology was well put. (See his 1978 Hobhouse lecture Three Sources of Human Values, published as an Epilogue to the 3rd volume of Law, Legislation and Liberty.) Anybody wanting to understand sources of Hayek's otherwise bizarre accent on atavistic "instincts" of small groups in his later work will do good to read this book to understand what he meant by instincts and their significance today. The book covers many such primeval instincts (in that the book is perfect) and interpretes the outcomes these primeval instincts adapted to the life in a small group like love, hate, fear bring about in present society (in that the book is rather sketchy and abbreviatory, and despite citing two of wonderful late Hayek's lectures Eibl wasn't able to grasp Hayek's main idea that beyond values springing from instincts and rationally stated values we have traditional values that behave differently and on what function we can in some extent rely and in other respect we need to understand them to be able to improve their functioning.) The book is short (it is a popular science), clear and persuasive in its main ideas and for a hayekian economist it is a good introduction into anthropology. In that it should be noted that Hayek used to cite older literature in anthropology by Evans-Pritchard and liked less the work of Konrad Lorenz. I haven't read Lorenz, but it seems to me that given Eibl cited Hayek, some of what Hayek deemed as Lorenz' excesses were inhibited in Eibl's work.

Furthermore, it should be noted, that I actually read the 2005 czech translation by Academia publishing house: https://www.kosmas.cz/knihy/125143/cl...