Economics is philosophy, economics is not science

Read, Rupert (2007) Economics is philosophy, economics is not science. International Journal of Green Economics, 1 (3-4). pp. 307-325. ISSN 1744-9936

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Abstract

An environmentalist's outlook is typically claimed to be based on or even constituted by sound science. It would be natural then for a version of economics based on such insights to claim to be 'even more' scientific than traditional economics. I argue for a conclusion radically opposed to this. I suggest that a genuinely green economics will/should eschew any claims to scientificity. I aim to liberate economics from the albatross of scientific ambition. I urge greens not to try to legitimate their aspirations for the world and for society principally by means of science, but rather to embrace green economics as a point of view that has at its heart an endless love of and faith in life. I submit that economics is not science, but rather philosophy, and that a Green political philosophy of life will suffer, and not profit, from pretending otherwise.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	friedman,green,mirowski,physics,political economy,utility
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Philosophy (former - to 2014)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Wittgenstein Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy
Depositing User:	EPrints Services
Date Deposited:	01 Oct 2010 13:56
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:26
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/8924
DOI:	10.1504/IJGE.2007.013062

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