The Economic World View: Studies in the Ontology of Economics

by Edited by Uskali Mäki

• ISBN13: 9780521000208
• ISBN10: 0521000203
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The beliefs of economists are not solely determined by empirical evidence in direct relation to the theories and models they hold. Economists hold 'ontological presuppositions', fundamental ideas about the nature of being which direct their thinking about economic behaviour. In this volume, leading philosophers and economists examine these hidden presuppositions, searching for a 'world view' of economics. What properties are attributed to human individuals in economic theories, and which are excluded? Does economic man exist? Do markets have an essence? Do macroeconomic aggregates exist? Is the economy a mechanism, the functioning of which is governed by a limited set of distinct causes? What are the methodological implications of different ontological starting points? This collection, which establishes economic ontology as a coordinated field of study, will be of great value to economists and philosophers of social sciences.

Table of Contents

Notes on the contributors	ix
Preface	xv
I The what, why, and how of economic ontology
Economic ontology: what? why? how?	3	(12)
Uskali Maki
The empirical presuppositions of metaphysical explanations in economics	15	(17)
Harold Kincaid
Quality and quantity in economics: the metaphysical construction of the economics realm	32	(25)
Scott Meikle
II Rationality and homo economicus
The normative core of rational choice theory	57	(18)
Russell Hardin
The virtual reality of homo economicus	75	(23)
Philip Pettit
Expressive rationality: is self-worth just another kind of preference?	98	(16)
Shaun Hargraves Heap
Agent identity in economics	114	(18)
John B. Davis
Chances and choices: notes on probability and belief in economic theory	132	(25)
Jochen Runde
III Micro, macro, and markets
Essences and markets	157	(17)
John O'Neill
The metaphysics of microeconomics	174	(15)
Alex Rosenberg
Ontological commitments of evolutionary economics	189	(36)
Jack Vromen
Is macroeconomics for real?	225	(21)
Kevin D. Hoover
The possibility of economic objectivity	246	(29)
Don Ross
Fred Bennett
IV The world of economics causes
Ceteris paribus laws and socio-economics machines	275	(18)
Nancy Cartwright
Tendencies, laws, and the composition of economic causes	293	(15)
Daniel M. Hausman
Economics without mechanism	308	(27)
John Dupre
V Methodological implications of economic ontology
Sargent's symmetry saga: ontological versus technical constraints	335	(24)
Esther-Mirjam Sent
Two models of idealization in economics	359	(10)
Alan Nelson
The way the world works (www): towards an ontology of theory choice	369	(21)
Uskali Maki
Name index	390	(5)
Subject index	395