Philosophy of EconomicsThe philosophy of economics concerns itself with conceptual, methodological, and ethical issues that arise within the scientific discipline of economics. 1 The primary focus is on issues of methodology and epistemology-the methods, concepts, and theories through which economists attempt to arrive at knowledge about economic processes. Philosophy of economics is also concerned with the ways in which ethical values are involved in economic reasoning-the values of human welfare, social justice, and the tradeoffs among priorities that economic choices require. Economic reasoning has implications for justice and human welfare; more importantly, economic reasoning often makes inexplicit but significant ethical assumptions that philosophers of economics have found it worthwhile to scrutinize. Finally, the philosophy of economics is concerned with the concrete social assumptions that are made by economists. Philosophers have given attention to the institutions and structures through which economic activity and change take place. What is a "market"? Are there alternative institutions through which modern economic activity can proceed? What are some of the institutional variants that exist within the general framework of a market economy? What are some of the roles that the state can play within economic development so as to promote efficiency, equity, human well-being, productivity, or growth?The dimension of the philosophy of economics that falls within the philosophy of science has to do with the status of economic analysis as a body of empirical knowledge. Primary questions include: What is economic knowledge about? What kind of knowledge is provided by the discipline of economics? How does it relate to other social sciences and the bodies of knowledge contained in those disciplines? How is economic knowledge justified or evaluated? Does economic theory purport to offer abstract theories of real social processes-their mechanisms, dynamics, and institutions? What is the nature of economic explanation? What is the relationship between abstract mathematical models and theorems, on the one hand, and the empirical reality of economic behavior and institutions, on the other? What is the nature of the concepts and theories in terms of which economic beliefs are formulated? Are there lawlike regularities among economic phenomena? What is the status of predictions in economics?
The intellectual role of the philosophy of economicsPhilosophers are not empirical researchers, and on the whole they are not formal theorybuilders. So what constructive role does philosophy have to play in economics? There are several. First, philosophers are well prepared to examine the logical and rational features of an empirical discipline. How do theoretical claims in the discipline relate to empirical evidence? How do pragmatic features of theories such as simplicity, ease of computation, and the like, play a role in the rational appraisal of a theory? How do presuppositions and traditions of research serve to structure the...