Epistemology of economics II

Semester 3

Samuel Ferey, Jean-Sébastien Lenfant

The course “Epistemology of Economics II” completes the themes of the course “Epistemology of Economics I”.

First, the course presents several traditions of epistemological approach in economics based on a few economists (Walras, Marshall, Friedman, Samuelson).

Secondly, the ontological assumptions of economic theory are examined. These ontological assumptions in economics remain implicit as long as the methodological or theoretical questions are limited to a stabilized paradigm. They become central when heterodox approaches or theoretical confrontations are at work, or when a philosophical approach questions the unity and coherence of certain primary concepts: goods (or commodities), the market, agents, resources, etc. The seminar will address the question of the ontology of economic theories from reflections on these different dimensions.

The ontology of the commodity has been questioned several times (e.g. Marx and the social reality of the value of the commodity; Lancaster and the deconstruction of goods into characteristics). A rich literature rethinks the economic agent from the concept of multiple identity (multiple selves). Austrian theory and evolutionary economics theorize the market and institutions as natural objects. Finally, the advent of ecological economics has been accompanied by virulent debates on its founding ontologies (ecosystem, environment, climate, landscape).

Syllabus

References

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  • Davis, John B. 2018. Agent-Based Modeling’s Open Methodology Approach: Simulation, Reflexivity, and Abduction, Œconomia, 8(4): 509-529.
  • Friedman, Milton. 1953. Essays in positive economics. The University of Chicago Press
  • Fullbrook, Edward. 2009. Ontology and Economics. Tony Lawson and his critics. Routledge.
  • Hacking, Ian. 2000. The social construction of what ? Harvard University Press. (trad. Française : Entre science et réalité. La construction sociale de quoi ? La Découverte, 2008)
  • Hausman, Daniel M. (1999). Ontology and methodology in economics. Economics & Philosophy, 15(2): 283-288.
  • Hédoin, Cyril. 2012. Veblen et son actualité : sélection multi-niveaux et darwinisme généralisé. Œconomia, 2(2): 179-207.
  • Herrmann-Pillath, C. 2015. Energy, growth, and evolution: Towards a naturalistic ontology of economics. Ecological Economics, 119, 432-442.
  • Hodgson, Geoffrey M. 2002. Darwinism in economics: from analogy to ontology. Journal of evolutionary economics, 12(3): 259-281.
  • Lallement, Jérôme 2017. Individu et société selon Walras. Revue de philosophie économique, 18(1): 57-89.
  • Mäki, Uskali (Ed.). 2001. The economic world view: Studies in the ontology of economics. Cambridge University Press.
  • Mäki, Uskali. 2001. Economic ontology: what? why? how. In The economic world view: Studies in the ontology of economics, 3-14. Cambridge university press
  • Mongin, Philippe. 1999. La méthodologie économique au XXe siècle. Les controverses en théorie de l’entreprise et la théorie des préférences révélées.
  • Robbins, Lionel. [1932] 2007. An essay on the nature and significance of economic science. Ludwig von Mises Institute.
  • Samuelson, Paul A. [1947] 1983. Foundations of economic analysis. Enlarged edition. Harvard University Press
  • Samuelson, Paul A. 1938. A note on the pure theory of consumer’s behaviour. Economica, 5(17): 61-71
  • Schmidt, Christian, et Pierre Livet. 2014. Comprendre nos interactions sociales. Une perspective neuroéconomique. Paris : Odile Jacob.
  • Searle, John. 1997. The construction of social reality. Free Press. (trad. Française : La construction de la réalité sociale, 1998, Gallimard)
  • Staddon, John. 2016. Theoretical behaviorism, economic theory, and choice. History of Political Economy, 48(suppl.): 316-331.
  • Touffut, Jean-Philippe (dir.) 2010. Changement de climat, changement d’économie ? Paris : Albin Michel
  • Vianna Franco, Marco P. 2020. The Factual Nature of Resource Flow Accounting in the Calculation in Kind of the “Other Austrian Economics”. Œconomia, 10(3): 453-472.
  • Vromen, J. 2004. Conjectural revisionary economic ontology: Outline of an ambitious research agenda for evolutionary economics. Journal of Economic Methodology, 11(2) : 213-247.