There’s been a lot of excitement about changing the substance of economics and the way it is taught. Rightly so. But that, it seems to me, just begs the question: “What is economics?” Or, rather, it begs a series of questions. None of us can pretend to have the answer since the answer is surely to be found in the collective voice of those who are interested enough to respond. Social intelligence is a more robust repository of ‘truth’ than any single intelligence can ever be.
So.
What are the questions? Tell me.Wha this means is that philosophy of economics is logically prior to economics. Economic schools are based on different philosophies of economics, which presuppose philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, social and political philosophy, ethics, epistemology, and ontology. These difference are indicative of different ideologies and conflicting world views.
Agreement is not possible where there is disagreement over the fundamentals. I attended grad school at one of the few universities that specialized in history of philosophy and where many different philosophical schools were represented. I asked a faculty member why the professors never debated with each other over the differences among these schools.
He smiled and said, "Oh we did some time ago. We argued each other down to foundations and then agreed to disagree. So now there is nothing more to say other than that we agree to disagree over the key fundamentals of our respective positions."
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