A philosopher should lead the dismal scientists
Published: August 16 2010 02:40 | Last updated: August 16 2010 02:40From Prof Chin-Tai Kim and Prof Yeomin Yoon.
Sir, Rod Dowler’s assertions (Letters, August 12) that “economics could be declared as a failing discipline and could be taken over by a successful discipline such as physics”, and that “an eminent physicist could be appointed to take charge of economics”, are grossly off the mark, revealing a common and sad misunderstanding of the nature of economics.
Mr Dowler should understand that economics (and its current state) may be “dismal” but it is not a science that only describes, measures, explains and predicts human interests, values and policies – it also evaluates, promotes, endorses or rejects them. The predicament of economics and all other social sciences consists in their failure to acknowledge honestly their value orientation in their pathetic and inauthentic pretension to emulate the natural sciences they presume to be value free.
The Aristotelian concept of politics as a master science that comprehends ethics and economy and the Enlightenment concept of political economy indicate a more correct and complete understanding of the correct structure for investigating economic phenomena. With Aristotle, we would argue that economics should be a branch of a comprehensive inquiry (ie ethics) that posits the summum bonum for human society and describes the way it can be realised in specific structures of human social existence, including economic regions.
It is unfortunate that today’s economists have conveniently forgotten that economics is a dimension of ethics as envisioned by Adam Smith (see his Theory of Moral Sentiments) as well as John Maynard Keynes who said: “It needs no proof that neither economic activities nor any other class of human activities can rightly be made independent of moral laws.” We feel that the economics profession needs a root and branch examination of how economics is studied and practised with a serious consideration of how ethics can be organically incorporated into economic discourse. To do so, an eminent philosopher, rather than a physicist, should be appointed to take charge of economics and “lead the dismal scientists”.
Chin-Tai Kim,
Professor of ,
Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, OH, US
Yeomin Yoon,
Professor of Finance and International Business,
Seton Hall University,
South Orange, NJ, US
Sir, Rod Dowler’s assertions (Letters, August 12) that “economics could be declared as a failing discipline and could be taken over by a successful discipline such as physics”, and that “an eminent physicist could be appointed to take charge of economics”, are grossly off the mark, revealing a common and sad misunderstanding of the nature of economics.
Mr Dowler should understand that economics (and its current state) may be “dismal” but it is not a science that only describes, measures, explains and predicts human interests, values and policies – it also evaluates, promotes, endorses or rejects them. The predicament of economics and all other social sciences consists in their failure to acknowledge honestly their value orientation in their pathetic and inauthentic pretension to emulate the natural sciences they presume to be value free.
The Aristotelian concept of politics as a master science that comprehends ethics and economy and the Enlightenment concept of political economy indicate a more correct and complete understanding of the correct structure for investigating economic phenomena. With Aristotle, we would argue that economics should be a branch of a comprehensive inquiry (ie ethics) that posits the summum bonum for human society and describes the way it can be realised in specific structures of human social existence, including economic regions.
It is unfortunate that today’s economists have conveniently forgotten that economics is a dimension of ethics as envisioned by Adam Smith (see his Theory of Moral Sentiments) as well as John Maynard Keynes who said: “It needs no proof that neither economic activities nor any other class of human activities can rightly be made independent of moral laws.” We feel that the economics profession needs a root and branch examination of how economics is studied and practised with a serious consideration of how ethics can be organically incorporated into economic discourse. To do so, an eminent philosopher, rather than a physicist, should be appointed to take charge of economics and “lead the dismal scientists”.
Chin-Tai Kim,
Professor of ,
Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, OH, US
Yeomin Yoon,
Professor of Finance and International Business,
Seton Hall University,
South Orange, NJ, US
No comments:
Post a Comment