The Philosophical Bases of Institutionalist Economics
Author(s)
Mirowski, Philip
Abstract
This paper begins with a thesis of the anthropologists Emile Durkheim, Marcel Mauss, and Mary Douglas that the social concepts of any society have an intimate relationship with their “natural” concepts. It interprets that thesis to imply that the philosophical bases of any school of economic thought are governed by their image and conception of science. Neoclassical economics is linked to a Cartesian image of science, whereas institutionalist theory grew out of a pragmatic philosophy of science. Influences emanating from John Dewey and C. S. Peirce are compared. Recent trends in science suggest a return to a more pragmatic conception.
