Perspectives of Organistic Thought

Abstract

Economic development can be outlined in various ways, according to how it is analysed. This particularly applies to the process of industrialization of the Western world. So, two contrasting ideas of development can be put forward. Economic science arose from the philosophy of the Enlightenment, a way of thinking that has left a lasting stamp on economic thought. This has the advantage that explanations of the functioning of nature put forward by physicists can easily be assimilated into the pattern of economic thinking A disadvantage is that economic thought can easily function as a sounding board for aprioristic optimism about economic development in the future. This is because welfare optimism, being a long-standing characteristic of economics, is rooted in Enlightened thought. In the latter philosophy, a continuing interweaving of “reason” in the thinking about the organization of society, is the propelling force in social development.