Abstract
The plan for this talk is to discuss, first, the question ‘What is science?’ I’m going to explain that the second question, ‘Does economics fit the bill?’, is hard to answer since we have no good answer to the first question. Then I shall turn to the question, ‘Does economics’ standing as a science give it special power?’ Here, I shall point out that whether its knowledge constitutes science or not, economics does have esoteric knowledge that provides it with hidden sources of power.
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- 1.
Popper’s ‘Conjectures and Refutations’, originally published 1963 (2013).
- 2.
MacKenzie and Millo (2003).
- 3.
But as Michel Foucault argues, this source of power is not confined to economics but works for any science whose concepts get a grip on the way members of society and its institutions see themselves and others.
- 4.
Atkinson, 1998, Poverty in Europe, Wiley-Blackwell http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0631209093.html
- 5.
Deaton (2001) p. 139.
References
Atkinson, A. B. (1998). Poverty in Europe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0631209093.html
Deaton, A. (2001). Counting the world’s poor. World Bank Research Observer, 16, 125–147.
MacKenzie, D., & Millo, Y. (2003, July). Constructing a market, performing theory: The historical sociology of a financial derivatives exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 109(1), 107–145, 122.
Popper, K. (2013). Science: Conjectures and refutations. In A. Bird & J. Ladyman (Eds.), Arguing about Science (p. 16). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
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Cartwright, N., Davis, J.B. (2016). Economics as Science. In: Skidelsky, R., Craig, N. (eds) Who Runs the Economy?. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58017-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58017-7_4
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