Deductive Irrationality: A Commonsense Critique of Economic RationalismStephen McCarthy, David Kehl Lexington Books, 2008 - 284 pages Deductive Irrationality examines and critiques economic rationalism from the perspective of political philosophy. The essays in this collection analyze not only the work of founders of the discipline of economics, but also political philosophers influential in this founding and select contributors of seminal theories in modern economic thought--namely, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, Gunnar Myrdal, Robert E. Lucas Jr., and John F. Muth. The main theme linking all of the essays together is that economics is a product of modern rationalism and shares with that rationalism the belief that the only real knowledge is scientific knowledge. Derived from a scientific method modeled on mathematics, this method gives both modern political science and modern economics their abstract character. Adam Smith's contribution to Western thought was more than mere economics; his innovations and his variance from previous thinkers follows Machiavelli in finding human nature in the realistic conception of examining men as how they are, rather than the classical view that we should look to the idea of man's formal excellence. To Smith, humanity emerges from a desire for self-preservation, where every worker competes to exchange the fruits of their labor with that of others. The result is a gap between the world of "common sense" and the world of theory that practitioners in both fields no longer truly understand. By adopting the perspective of political philosophy, the contributors take an approach that is alien to most economists, and in doing so address many of the currents and tensions that underlie modern economic theory and, by implication, the rational choice theory in political science. |
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Contents
Introduction | 1 |
John Locke Thomas Hobbes and the Development of Political Economy | 29 |
Adam Smith and the Invention of Economic Science | 47 |
Ethical and Methodological Foundations of Marshalls Economics | 71 |
Keyness Return to Reality The General Theory of Employment | 91 |
Friedrich A Hayeks Economic Theory of Law | 129 |
The Theory of Economic Development as Presented by Gunnar Myrdal | 169 |
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abstract according achieved action Adam analysis appears applied Aristotle assumed assumptions become called cause chapter choice claim classical classical economics common concept consequence considered consistent countries culture definite dependent desire determined economic economists effect employment equal exchange exist expectations fact follows given Hayek Hobbes human Ibid ideas individual intended interest invention Keynes Keynes's known labour language Locke logic London Marshall mathematical means measure method moral Myrdal namely nature observed original particular philosophy physics policies political possible practical premises present Press principle problem quantity rational choice theory rational expectations reason reference relation respect result rules scientific scientists sense Smith social social science society sociology of knowledge teaching things thought tion true truth understanding unit University utility York