Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction
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- Create Date：2022-02-25 07:57:52
- Update Date：2025-09-07
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- Author：Julian Reiss
- ISBN：041588117X
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Summary
Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction is the first systematic textbook in the philosophy of economics。 It introduces the epistemological， metaphysical and ethical problems that arise in economics， and presents detailed discussions of the solutions that have been offered。
Throughout， philosophical issues are illustrated by and analysed in the context of concrete cases drawn from contemporary economics， the history of economic ideas， and actual economic events。 This demonstrates the relevance of philosophy of economics both for the science of economics and for the economy。
This text will provide an excellent introduction to the philosophy of economics for students and interested general readers alike。
Throughout， philosophical issues are illustrated by and analysed in the context of concrete cases drawn from contemporary economics， the history of economic ideas， and actual economic events。 This demonstrates the relevance of philosophy of economics both for the science of economics and for the economy。
This text will provide an excellent introduction to the philosophy of economics for students and interested general readers alike。
Reviews
Tariq Alharbi
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لست اقتصادي وأعتقد أنه ينقصني الكثير من الأساسيات لفهم الاقتصاد، لكن استمتعت جداً بشرح المواضيع الاقتصادية بطريقة فلسفية تثير التساؤلات والتفكير أكثر من أنها تعطي أجوبة。الكتاب يناقش العديد من المواضيع والقضايا في تاريخ وحاضر الاقتصاد، من ضمنها: نظرية اللعبة ومشكلة العملة الأوروبية الموحدة （اليورو）، نظرية الاختيار العقلاني، العلية والاتجاهات العلية، التضخم، البطالة （ومشكلة تعريف البطالة بين الدول أصلاً！）، السعادة والرفاه （وبحوث أمارتيا سن）، وحقوق الملكية وأثرها الايجابي والسلبي على السوق، وأخيراً لست اقتصادي وأعتقد أنه ينقصني الكثير من الأساسيات لفهم الاقتصاد، لكن استمتعت جداً بشرح المواضيع الاقتصادية بطريقة فلسفية تثير التساؤلات والتفكير أكثر من أنها تعطي أجوبة。الكتاب يناقش العديد من المواضيع والقضايا في تاريخ وحاضر الاقتصاد، من ضمنها: نظرية اللعبة ومشكلة العملة الأوروبية الموحدة （اليورو）، نظرية الاختيار العقلاني، العلية والاتجاهات العلية، التضخم، البطالة （ومشكلة تعريف البطالة بين الدول أصلاً！）، السعادة والرفاه （وبحوث أمارتيا سن）، وحقوق الملكية وأثرها الايجابي والسلبي على السوق، وأخيراً الاقتصاد السلوكي （والذي اتخذ فيه جوليان رايس كتاب "الوكز" الشهير جداً كأساس له في هذا الفصل）。شكراً لدار معنى، وشكراً للمترجم شكري مجاهد، أنتم الجسور الحقيقية بين الشعوب العربية والمعرفة العالمية 。。。more
Bastian Emil
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Reiss gives a good and brief introduction to many moral and philosophical issues confronting the economist in various situations。 As an undergraduate economics student， I have gained new and valuable perspectives on some of the basic models and methods I have been taught。 The book is a great starting point for everybody interested in “philosophy of economics” but I doubt that non-economists will find the book as interesting as I did。
Noé Ajo caamaño
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Una introducción muy bien organizada， critica y de amplios horizontes， a la filosofía de la economía en particular， aplicable en términos generales a todo el ámbito de las ciencias sociales。 Una exploración sencilla pero completa de las principales cuestiones epistemológicas， metodologicas， ontologicas y valorativas。 Muy recomendado。
Arbraxan
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A few years ago， coming home to Mannheim after a concert at Heidelberg （"Timid Tiger"） and enjoying the prospect of restful sleep， I walked into a crowd of friends' friends。 A few red bulls later I had been talked into following them to a club for what was to become a perfectly uneventful night， with one exception: On the way to the club as well as in the queue before the club's entrance， I entertained a lengthy discussion with a young and bright economics student on the topic of whether economi A few years ago， coming home to Mannheim after a concert at Heidelberg （"Timid Tiger"） and enjoying the prospect of restful sleep， I walked into a crowd of friends' friends。 A few red bulls later I had been talked into following them to a club for what was to become a perfectly uneventful night， with one exception: On the way to the club as well as in the queue before the club's entrance， I entertained a lengthy discussion with a young and bright economics student on the topic of whether economics is a science， which he - rather disappointed by his choice of studies - denied。 This conversation has stuck with me for a long time and became particularly relevant when I switched my studies to economics， read a lot about the role of economists' "expert judgment" in the build-up of the financial crisis in the late 2000s， and was admitted to and dropped out of econ grad school。 Hence， as a caveat， the following warning: It is hopeless to expect an unbiased opinion from me on this book， though I am not certain what the sign of the bias is。Back to the book。 I came across it as a required reading of a course on the philosophy of economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam。 The book presupposes an introductory course in philosophy （which none of us had taken） and seeks to "educate students in the main problems， positions and arguments of contemporary philosophy" of economics。 Following a short introduction， the book is well-organized around the three branches of philosophy of economics， namely （i） the interpretation of economic theory， especially the assumption of rationality， the search for causality， and its reliance on models， （ii） economic methodology， and （iii） the ethics of economics。Criticisms:- While it is true that rational-choice theory is at the heart of most macroeconomic models' microfoundations， a host of behavioral theories - fairness， reciprocity， etc。 - have taken over。- This issue becomes flagrant when Reiss completely omits evolutionary and behavioral game theory from his discussion of game theory （I speculate that this might be related to the fact that he has not received graduate training in economics）。- Reiss uses strongly dated theories for the exposition of his ideas; no economist would argue that the profession has not moved beyond Hotelling's competition model from 1929 or David Hume's monetary transmission mechanism。- In chapter 7， Reiss completely misrepresents the importance of robustness tests in contemporary economic research by implicitly generalizing from the lack of rigorous robustness tests in Hotelling's 1929 research to modern economics。 This is simply false: It is nigh impossible to publish in the field's top journals without a credible identification strategy， which implies either a very good instrument or a whole battery of robustness tests （ever seen an article by Daron Acemoglu？）。 。。。more
Nick Klagge
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Overall I would say this was a pretty good book， but with mixed relevance to me。 I feel like it would be more accurate to call it "Philosophical Issues in Economics，" because to me "Philosophy of Economics" implies something more unified than what the book contains。 It's a grab bag of issues that don't seem to be connected by a clear intellectual structure; just that they are things that touch on both philosophy and economics。 （To be fair， after reading the book I looked up the Wikipedia article Overall I would say this was a pretty good book， but with mixed relevance to me。 I feel like it would be more accurate to call it "Philosophical Issues in Economics，" because to me "Philosophy of Economics" implies something more unified than what the book contains。 It's a grab bag of issues that don't seem to be connected by a clear intellectual structure; just that they are things that touch on both philosophy and economics。 （To be fair， after reading the book I looked up the Wikipedia article on "Philosophy of science" and concluded that that discipline is about as much of a grab bag as this book is。 So， I don't think Reiss is being misleading with the title; it's my expectations that were off。）That aside， I think this book is a great introduction to a variety of interesting issues。 Many of them are things that I have studied before， particularly in a college class on Rational Choice （e。g。 philosophical issues in expected utility theory and game theory）。 However， some of it was also fairly new to me。 Reiss provides a pretty convincing critique of Nash equilibrium as a particularly worthy solution concept in game theory; I had never encountered the issues he raised despite a reasonable amount of reading in the subject。 The section I enjoyed most was on the application and significance of models--the topic closest to my own day-to-day work。 Reiss sort of jumps off from a cliche often used by modelers: "All models are wrong， but some models are useful，" and turns it into a very interesting philosophical discussion。 In short， he presents three incompatible statements:-Economic models are false。 -Economic models are nevertheless explanatory。-Only true accounts can explain。The tension between these statements makes one think very hard about the epistemological role of models。 I can't say that I have a complete answer， but my main line of thinking is to see models as playing a similar role to analogy。 Analogies are also not "true" in any strict sense， but they can play a role in helping us to understand things。 I think extending this mapping can be fruitful too。 For example， it is fairly easy to develop different analogies to make opposing points， and this is a critique frequently brought toward modeling as well。 I suppose I still have analogies on the brain from reading Hofstadter's book "Surfaces and Essences。" （Hofstadter would relish the fact that the mapping of models to analogies is itself an analogy！） Of course， treating models as analogies raises a whole set of philosophy-of-economics questions。 If there is no definitive way of proving models to be true or false， then how does the "science" of economics progress？ How do we even judge models？ While I was reading this book， Stephen Colbert's neologism， "truthiness，" came to mind。 As in: models become accepted not because they are true， but because they have truthiness， a quality that combines reasonable fidelity to reality with a heavy dose of appeal to the observer's preferences and preconceptions。 And then， I came across the following line: "[Robert] Sugden explicitly rejects thesis three of our paradox: 'Credibility is not the same thing as truth; it is closer to verisimilitude or truthlikeness。'" I think Reiss missed a golden opportunity to name-drop Stephen Colbert here， and it wouldn't have been out of character for his writing style。An interesting introduction to many topics。 Reiss provides a lot of references for further reading， and I would like to follow some of them up。 。。。more
Lourenço
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I'm not sure if this a 5 star of 4 start book; most likely， it's a 4。5， but I guess one should be benevolent when in doubt。So， what are the pluses of this book？ Most certainly， the fact that this is， to my knowledge， the first systematic treatment of a field that only recently has seen considerable growth — Hausman's anthology on this theme follows a rather different treatment。 The scope of the treatment is also a major plus: 15 different chapters/problems， with the major views on each being fai I'm not sure if this a 5 star of 4 start book; most likely， it's a 4。5， but I guess one should be benevolent when in doubt。So， what are the pluses of this book？ Most certainly， the fact that this is， to my knowledge， the first systematic treatment of a field that only recently has seen considerable growth — Hausman's anthology on this theme follows a rather different treatment。 The scope of the treatment is also a major plus: 15 different chapters/problems， with the major views on each being fairly well represented and treated。 The style is much to my liking， being direct and simple while from time to time the author marks his personal imprint （either by a joke， a personal opinion， an example taken from his experiences， etc）。 On the downside， there's obviously the fact that ~300 pages for 15 problems gives about 20 pages for each chapter。 And while this is perfectly natural taking into account that it is supposed to be an introductory book on the subject， I found that sometimes the treatment given to some was somewhat lacking — what shocked me the most was the complete omission of Plato's and Aristotle's views on idealisation and their importance to economic thought and theory。 Taking all into account， I'd say that it is a highly laudable effort and everyone， as long as they are interested on the subject， should read this book。 。。。more
Mills College Library
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