UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY

2nd International Conference on Economic and Social History

"Markets" and Politics
Private interests and public authority (18th-20th centuries)

Volos, 10-12 February 2012

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Abstracts

Paschalis A. Arvanitidis & Georgios Papagiannitsis Back to the future: economics through the lenses of pragmatism

Pragmatism is an American philosophical tradition founded by C.S. Peirce, W. James and J. Dewey. It starts from the fundamental humanistic thesis that actions are structured by meanings which are subjective interpretations of the world, but it goes further to argue that these interpretations are evaluated in terms of their “practical” (or experiential) consequences Choices, therefore, are based on criteria of purposive expedience, providing a standard for the determination of truth in the case of statements, rightness in the case of actions, and value in the case of appraisals. No universal, objective, secure or permanent anchor exists to guarantee true knowledge. Knowledge is the outcome of a process of interpretation and conceptualisation of experiences by a self-identified community of inquiry, aiming towards enhancement of generic “workability” and “serviceability” to the overall betterment of human life as a whole. Thus, the perception and interpretation of the world (and thus reality too) is, substantially a socio-cultural process, where the community of inquiry is the central epistemological unit.
Pragmatism was born at the end of the 19th century to oppose positivist practices in scientific research. It heavily influenced American economic thought in the first quarter of the 20th century gaining a very prominent role in philosophy and social sciences in general. Later its influence had fallen and pragmatism informed research in economics has whittled away. This decline was principally a consequence of the profound methodological shift in economics that favored prediction (over understanding), mathematical formalism (over analytical description), and generalizability (over historically and spatially specific explanations), all of which were sustained by the positivist-inspired mainstream. However, over the last years pragmatism is experiencing a powerful revival (the so-called, pragmatic turn) throughout disciplinary philosophy and intellectual life more generally. In the majority of these cases the ideas that have been most challenged by the revived pragmatism have been those inherited from the positivist tradition.
The purpose of this paper is to attract the attention of economists to the enormous potential of application of the classical pragmatism in both practising and teaching economics. It is structured into four sections. The first outlines some key elements which are unique to each one of the three classical pragmatists. The second embarks on the difficult task of articulating in brief the basic features of this philosophical tradition. In the third we present the epistemological and methodological implications, which provide the grounds for a generic analytical framework that can be used to investigate economic phenomena. The fourth discusses how classical pragmatism can inform and broaden the scope of economic education, by challenging the way economics is taught in contemporary academia.


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