Socionomics Defined

Socionomics is an interdisciplinary study of the moral, legal, and economic aspects of our social environment. Blending insights from the moral philosophy of natural law and natural rights with the implications of evolutionary psychology gives a fresh perspective on the individualist-collectivist debate. Using chaos and complexity theory combined with Austrian and Bionomic analysis gives another fresh perspective on the order and operation of the economic system. The latter creates what might be called REAL ECONOMICS emphasizing the self organizing principles that relate to the transformation of resources into products and highlighting the importance of individuals, entrepreneurship and information creation/exchange. Altogether what emerges is a combination of ideas with a synergy that provides a unique framework for understanding social problems and political conflicts. Socionomic principles can be applied to jurisprudence. Socionomics has the same relationship to jurisprudence as physics has to bridge building. Applied socionomics makes use of history and current events to study the relationship between socionomic ideas, jurisprudence, and the individual in a social context. Each individual's spiritual development and intrinsic harmony is both a cause and an effect of the degree of interpersonal development and harmonious social organization.

The Baker's Dozen

Thirteen Principles of Socionomics

Morals evolve Order is spontaneous Individuals think and act but groups do not Value is subjective Entrepreneurs are the key to economic progress Information is the life-blood of economic systems Trial and error works better than long-range planning Natural law is to be observed, not obeyed Natural rights predate the constitution Human nature is universal The law must be just, otherwise it's just the law Society is an emergent system at the edge of chaos God is a strange attractor.

Socionomics Recommended Reading List

  1. Society As A Dynamic Evolving System
    1. CHAOS: Making a New Science by James Gleick (Penquin Books, 1987) by James Gleick (Penguin Books, 1987).
    2. COMPLEXITY: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos by M. Mitchell Waldrop (A Touchstone Book published by Simon & Schuster, 1992).
    3. AT HOME IN THE UNIVERSE: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity by Stuart Kauffman (Oxford University Press, 1995).
    4. SIMPLE RULES FOR A COMPLEX WORLD by Richard A. Epstein (Harvard University Press, 1995)
    5. CHAOS, MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS: The Implications of Non-Linear Thinking by David Parker and Ralph Stacey (Institute of Economic Affairs, 1994).
    6. AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS: A Reader by Richard M. Ebeling, Editor (Hillsdale College Press,1991).
    7. BIONOMICS: Economy as Ecosystem by Michael Rothschild (A John Macrae Book, Henry Holt and Company, 1990)
    8. TOWARDS A FREE SOCIETY: An Introduction to Markets and the Political System by Gary Wolfram (McGraw-Hill Inc. College Custom Series, 1993).
    9. THE FUTURE AND ITS ENEMIES The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress by Virginia Postrel, A Touchstone book by Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 1998
  2. Natural Law, Moral Rights, and Social Harmony
    1. MORAL RIGHTS AND POLITICAL FREEDOM by Tara Smith (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1995)
    2. THE ETHICS OF LIBERTY by Murray Rothbard or in audio tape from Laissez-Faire Books, 1982.
    3. THE LAW by Frederic Bastiat (The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. 1950, 19th printing, 1995).
    4. THE ART OF COMMUNITY by Spencer Heath MacCallum (Institute for Humane Studies, Inc. Menlo Park, California, 1970)
    5. THE ABOLITION OF MAN:Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools by C.S. Lewis (A Touchstone Book published by Simon & Schuster, 1944, 1996)
  3. Evolutionary Psychology, Morality, and Society
    1. THE MORAL ANIMAL: Why We Are The Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright (Vintage Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1994)
    2. THE MORAL SENSE: by James Q. Wilson (The Free Press, 1993).
    3. THE ORIGINS OF VIRTUE: Human Instincts And The Evolution Of Cooperation by Matt Ridley (Viking, 1996)
    4. TRUST: The Social Virtues & The Creation of Prosperity by Francis Fukuyama (The Free Press, 1995)
    5. THE FATAL CONCEIT: The Errors Of Socialism by F.A. Hayek (The University of Chicago Press, 1988)
  4. Additional Reading
    1. COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind by Richard Maurice Bucke, (The Citadel Press,University Books, Inc, 1961)
    2. THE CONSCIOUS UNIVERSE: Part and Whole in Modern Physical Theory by Menas Kafatos and Robert Nadeau(Springer-Verlag, 1990)
    3. THOUGHT CONTAGION: How Belief Spreads Through Society(The New Science of Memes) by Aaron Lynch (Basic Books, A Division of Harper Collins Publishers,Inc, 1996)
    4. THE GURU PAPERS: Masks of Authoritarian Power by Joel Kramer & Diana Alstad (Frog,Ltd.,North Atlantic Books, 1993)
    5. THE ANTI-CAPITALISTIC MENTALITY by Ludwig von Mises (Libertarian Press,Inc. 1972,1994)
    6. THE DISCOVERY OF FREEDOM: Man's Struggle Against Authority by Rose Wilder Lane (Fox & Wilkes, 1970,1993)
    7. FOR GOOD AND EVIL: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization by Charles Adams (Madison Books, 1993)
    8. HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis A. Schaeffer (Crossway Books, A Division of Good News Publishers, 1976,1990)
    9. EMANCIPATING SLAVES, ENSLAVING FREE MEN: A History of the American Civil War by Jeffrey Rodgers Hummel (Open Court, 1996)
    10. MODERN TIMES: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties by Paul Johnson (Harper Perennial, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, 1991,1992)
    11. THE THEME IS FREEDOM: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition by M. Stanton Evans (Regnery Publishing,Inc., 1994)
    12. ECONOMICS IN ONE LESSON: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics by Henry Hazlitt (Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1946 by Harper & Brothers,1979)
    13. ECONOMICS ON TRIAL: Lies, Myths, and Realities by Mark Skousen (Irwin, 1991)
    14. HOW THE WEST GREW RICH: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World by Nathan Rosenberg & L.E. Birdzell,Jr. (Basic Books, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, 1986)
    15. THE VISION OF THE ANNOINTED: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell (Basic Books, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, 1995)
    16. LOST RIGHTS: The Destruction of American Liberty by James Bovard (St. Martin's Griffin, 1994)
    17. KNOWLEDGE AND DECISIONS by Thomas Sowell (Basic Books, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, 1980,1996)
    18. PHILOSOPHY: WHO NEEDS IT by Ayn Rand ( Signet, Penquin Group, 1984)
    19. THE SPIRITUALITY OF IMPERFECTION: Storytelling and the Journey to Wholeness by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham(Bantam Books, 1992)
    20. AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF CIVIL SOCIETY by Adam Ferguson (Transaction Publishers,1767,1995).
    21. BUSINESS AS A CALLING: Work and the Examined Life by Michael Novak (The Free Press, A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc., 1996)
    22. THE GOD OF THE MACHINE by Isabel Paterson (Transaction Publishers, 1943, 1993).
    23. HEALING OUR WORLD: The Other Piece of the Puzzle by Mary J. Ruwart (SunStar Press, 1993)
    24. THE ROAD TO SERFDOM by F.A. Hayek (The University of Chicago Press, 1944, 1994)
    25. ADAM SMITH IN HIS TIME AND OURS: Designing The Decent Society by Jerry Z. Muller (Princeton University Press, 1993)
    26. GOOD NATURED: The Origins Of Right And Wrong In Humans And Other Animals by Frans de Waal (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England, 1996)
    27. WHO KILLED HOMER?: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom by Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, (The Free Press, New York,1998).
    28. CLICHES OF POLITICS, edited by Mark Spangler, (The Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, 1994)
    29. THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS by Adam Smith, (Liberty Fund, 1984/1759).
    30. THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students by Allan Bloom (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987).
    31. CHIMPANZEE POLITICS:Power and Sex Among Apes by Frans de Waal (The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1982, 1989).
    32. AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman ( Penquin Books, 1985,1986).
    33. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig (Bantam Books, New York, London, 1974)
    34. FREEDOM IN CHAINS: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen by James Bovard (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1999).
    35. THE MARKET FOR LIBERTY by Linda & Morris Tannehill (Fox & Wilkes, San Francisco, 1993).
    36. WHAT DO ECONOMISTS CONTRIBUTE? Edited by Daniel B. Klein (New York University Press, Washington Square, New York, N.Y., 1999