Idealization and the aims of economics: Three cheers for instrumentalism
Economics and Philosophy 28 (3):363-383 (2012)
| Abstract | This paper aims (a) to provide characterizations of realism and instrumentalism that are philosophically interesting and applicable to economics; and (b) to defend instrumentalism against realism as a methodological stance in economics. Starting point is the observation that , which, or so I argue, is difficult to square with the realist's aim of truth, even if the latter is understood as or . The three cheers in favour of instrumentalism are: (1) Once we have usefulness, truth is redundant. (2) There is something disturbing about causal structure. (3) It's better to do what one can than to chase rainbows | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesElliott Sober (2001). Instrumentalism Revisited. The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 2001 (91):3 - 39.
Nicholas Maxwell (1993). Does Orthodox Quantum Theory Undermine, or Support, Scientific Realism? Philosophical Quarterly 44 (171):139-157.
Mark LeBar (2004). Ends. Social Theory and Practice 30 (4):507-533.
David Papineau (1986). The Paradox of Instrumentalism. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986:269 - 276.
Robin Findlay Hendry (2001). Are Realism and Instrumentalism Methodologically Indifferent? Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 2001 (3):S25-.
James Hawthorne (1996). Mathematical Instrumentalism Meets the Conjunction Objection. Journal of Philosophical Logic 25 (4):363-397.
Patrick Yarnell (2002). Humean Instrumentalism and the Motivational Capacity of Reason. Journal of Philosophical Research 27:499-509.
Lawrence A. Boland (2003). Methodological Criticismvs. Ideology and Hypocrisy. Journal of Economic Methodology 10 (4):521-526.
Chrisoula Andreou (2006). Might Intentions Be the Only Source of Practical Imperatives? Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 9 (3):311 - 325.
Lynne Rudder Baker (1987). Instrumentalism: Back From the Brink? In Lynne Rudder Baker (ed.), Saving Belief. Princeton University Press.
Elijah Millgram (1995). Was Hume a Humean? Hume Studies 21 (1):75-94.
Uskali Mäki (1998). Aspects of Realism About Economics. Theoria 13 (2):301-319.
Gregory M. Mikkelson (2006). Realism Versus Instrumentalism in a New Statistical Framework. Philosophy of Science 73 (4):440-447.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2012-11-29Total downloads2 ( #232,382 of 549,049 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,252 of 549,049 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
