Tories and Vampire Bats

Daniel Finkelstein in the Times this morning plugs a lecture tonight at the LSE by the Conservatives’ “leading intellectua”, David Willets. The event, entitled “The Ideas that are Changing Politics”, will apparently blend evolutionary biological theory with game theory and politicking. The role of sociology is important, Finkelstein writes, because “sociobiologists argue that our minds and our behaviour – not just our bodies – are the products of evolution.”

So if peoples attitudes and behaviours are evolutionarily formed, then how can these be harnessed to the advantage of a political party? Finkelstein says that the Tories should create social institutions that encourage our evolutionary nature towards reciprocal altruism. He uses a dry stone wall as an example of a system in which each individual component supports and is likewise supported by the other, without any artificial restraint intervening. Instead of unwieldy and bureaucratic nationwide institutions, perhaps smaller, more nimble and mutually supportive institutions are the answer, he appears to say.

Whether this philosophy will be translated into an articulate policy remains to be seen. At any rate, the discussion makes tonights lecture, which as presented hadn’t really commanded attention, more interesting and worthy of attendance.