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23Philosophy and Economic MethodologyPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1984. 1984.This paper is concerned with the puzzling divorce that exists between writing on economic methodology and work by philosophers of science. After documenting the extent and nature of the separation and making some disparaging comments about the quality of much of the literature on economic methodology, this essay argues that the divorce results from the differences between the aims of philosophers of science, who are concerned to learn about knowledge acquisition in disciplines such as economics,…Read more
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21What Is and What Ought to be Done: An Essay on Ethics and EpistemologyJournal of Philosophy 80 (5): 312-315. 1983.
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20Hope or despair: a response to ‘Do not despair about severity—yet’Journal of Medical Ethics 46 (8): 559-559. 2020.This is a brief response to ‘Do not despair about severity—yet’ by Barra et al. It argues that they have no serious criticisms of Daniel Hausman’s essay, ‘The Significance of Severity’” and that indeed their work lends further support to his view that there is no justification for prioritising severity. As policy-akers, Barra and his coauthors are more constrained by popular attitudes, which apparently favour prioritising severity.
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19Well-Being and Fair Distribution: Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis, Matthew D. Adler. Oxford University Press, 2012, 634 pages (review)Economics and Philosophy 28 (3): 435-443. 2012.Book Reviews Daniel M. Hausman, Economics and Philosophy, FirstView Article
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18Liberalism, Welfare Economics, and Freedom*: DANIEL M. HAUSMANSocial Philosophy and Policy 10 (2): 172-197. 1993.With the collapse of the centrally controlled economies and the authoritarian governments of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics, political leaders are, with appreciable public support, espousing “liberal” economic and political transformations—the reinstitution of markets, the securing of civil and political rights, and the establishment of representative governments. But those supporting reform have many aims, and the liberalism to which they look for political guidance is not an un…Read more
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17Philosophy of Economics: A Retrospective ReflectionRevue de Philosophie Économique 18 (2): 185-202. 2018.
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17Experimenting on Models and in the World (review)Journal of Economic Methodology 15 (2): 209-216. 2008.
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14Constrained Fairness in DistributionJournal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 22 (1). 2022.In “Weighing Up Weighted Lotteries: Scarcity, Overlap Cases, and Fair Inequalities of Chance”, Gerard Vong addresses intriguing problems in which it is impossible to give an equal chance of receiving a good to a set of equal claimants, because goods can be distributed only via groups which have overlapping membership. Vong proposes a rule for distributing chances that he argues is sensitive to both comparative and absolute fairness. This comment discusses some formal difficulties with Vong’s pro…Read more
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1415 Tendencies, laws, and the composition of economic causesIn Uskali Mäki (ed.), The Economic World View: Studies in the Ontology of Economics, Cambridge University Press. pp. 293. 2001.
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14Review of mark Sagoff, Price, Principle, and the Environment (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2005 (2). 2005.
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14Social Scientific Naturalism RevisitedIn Peter Rona & Laszlo Zsolnai (eds.), Economic Objects and the Objects of Economics, Springer Verlag. pp. 71-83. 2018.The paper reconsiders social scientific naturalism, the view that despite obvious differences in their subject matter, the social sciences belong to the same species of cognitive inquiry as the natural sciences. Among other limits, the paper explores social scientific naturalism only with respect to economics. The social sciences are not homogeneous, and although many of the things I shall say apply to psychology, political science, sociology, and anthropology as well as to economics, I do not h…Read more
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13Price Huw, Corry Richard (eds.), Causation, physics, and the constitution of reality: Russell's republic revisited. Oxford university press (2007), pp. 403+IX, $35, 978-0-19-927819- (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. 2007.
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13Book Review (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 39 (1): 231-233. 2008.
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11Review of C. L. ten (ed.), Mill's on Liberty: A Critical Guide (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2009 (6). 2009.
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11The inexact and separate philosophy of economics: an interview with Daniel HausmanErasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 4 (1): 67. 2011.
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10On dogmatism in economics: The case of preference reversalsJournal of Socio-Economics 20 (3): 205-225. 1991.
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10Philosophy of EconomicsIn Fritz Allhoff (ed.), Philosophies of the Sciences, Wiley‐blackwell. 2010-01-04.This chapter contains sections titled: Economics and Philosophy of Economics Six Central Methodological Problems Inexactness, Ceteris Paribus Clauses, and “Unrealistic Assumptions” Contemporary Directions in Economic Methodology Conclusion References.
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9Why Look Under the Hood?In Essays in Philosophy and Economic Methodology, Cambridge University Press. pp. 70-73. 1992.
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8Confirming Mainstream Economic TheoryTheoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 13 (2): 261-278. 1998.This essay is concerned with the special difficulties that arise in testing and appraising mainstream economic theory. I argue that, like other theories designed to apply to complex open systems, it is very hard to confirm mainsteam economics. Parts can be tested and appraised, but the theory is only very weakly supported by evidence.
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6Economic analysis and moral philosophyCambridge University Press. 1996.Understanding moral philosophy can help one to do economics better, and philosophers can learn by drawing on economic insights and analytical tools. This book argues that standard views of rationality lead economists to espouse questionable moral principles, and discusses methods of economic evaluation in terms of welfare and other moral criteria. It also contains a brief discussion of the relevance of social choice and game theory to philosophy. There is a glossary and at the end of each chapte…Read more
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London School of EconomicsDepartment of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific MethodProfessor (Part-time)
Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of Social Science |