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| Format: | Recurso digital |
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Zenodo
2026
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| Matèries: | |
| Accés en línia: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18567734 |
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- <p><span>Background:</span> Legal theory often assumes legislators consciously design laws <span>to</span> solve social problems. Drawing <span>on</span> Dawkins<span>' (1982) concept of the extended phenotype, this paper challenges the Lamarckian assumption in legal scholarship and proposes a Darwinian framework: legislators function primarily as vehicles for replicating pre-existing legal "memes" whose survival depends on environmental fitness.</span></p> <p>Methods/Approach: The analysis combines: (<span>1</span>) Autobiographical <span>case</span> study—Argentina<span>'s 1981-1987 mortgage crisis, observed firsthand across three generational responses (1981-87, 2001-03, 2016-2024); (2) Comparative historical analysis of legislative responses to similar crises; (3) Theoretical synthesis integrating Dawkins' extended phenotype concept with Dennett's memetic theory.</span></p> <p><span>Findings:</span> The study demonstrates that legislators predominantly reproduce legal memes exhibiting higher fitness <span>in</span> their institutional environments rather than generating novel solutions. Over three generations, Argentine mortgage crisis legislation evolved <span>from</span> judicial paralysis (<span>1980s</span>) through emergency interventions (<span>2000s</span>) <span>to</span> preventive mechanisms (<span>2020s</span>), <span>with</span> <span>each</span> iteration reflecting memetic selection pressures rather than conscious design. The fitness landscape gradually shifted toward equilibrium between creditor <span>and</span> debtor interests.</p> <p><span>Implications:</span> Legal convergence across jurisdictions may occur through memetic selection rather than intentional coordination. Understanding legislators <span>as</span> extended phenotypes <span>of</span> legal memes suggests that effective legal reform requires memetic literacy—recognizing which conceptual structures possess environmental fitness rather than assuming normative superiority determines adoption.</p> <p>Original Contribution: Introduces the <span>"legislator as extended phenotype"</span> model <span>to</span> legal theory, supported <span>by</span> longitudinal empirical illustration <span>of</span> memetic evolution across three crisis generations.</p>