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53Constructive empiricism contestedPacific Philosophical Quarterly 63 (1): 21-28. 1982.Constructive empiricism, Bas van fraassen's new variety of anti-Realism, Maintains that science aims at empirically adequate, Rather than true theories and that, In fully accepting a theory, One should believe only that it is empirically adequate. A theory is empirically adequate just in case it has a model in which all observable phenomena may be embedded. I challenge van fraassen's main arguments and argue that the observable/unobservable distinction will not bear the weight that van fraassen …Read more
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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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25Price 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 39 (1): 231-233. 2008.
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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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123Discussion. The impossibility of interpersonal utility comparisons - a replyMind 106 (421): 99-100. 1997.
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35Is falsificationism unpractised or unpractisable?Philosophy of the Social Sciences 15 (3): 313-319. 1985.
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345Preference satisfaction and welfare economicsEconomics and Philosophy 25 (1): 1-25. 2009.The tenuous claims of cost-benefit analysis to guide policy so as to promote welfare turn on measuring welfare by preference satisfaction and taking willingness-to-pay to indicate preferences. Yet it is obvious that people's preferences are not always self-interested and that false beliefs may lead people to prefer what is worse for them even when people are self-interested. So welfare is not preference satisfaction, and hence it appears that cost-benefit analysis and welfare economics in genera…Read more
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48Physical Causation (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 33 (4): 717-724. 2002.
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33The insufficiency of nomological explanationPhilosophical Quarterly 39 (154): 22-35. 1989.I argue that one cannot analyze scientific explanations adequately only in terms of logical relations among true propositions, Including natural laws. No pure conditional analysis of causation is possible either. I suggest that any adequate analysis of causation or explanation must bring in other factors such as time ordering or manipulability. David sanford's views are considered at length
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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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59Trust and trustworthiness, by Russell Hardin. Russell Sage foundation, 2002, XXI + 234 pages (review)Economics and Philosophy 20 (1): 240-246. 2004.
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Deterministic causation of probabilitiesCommunication and Cognition. Monographies 31 (4): 365-390. 1998.
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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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66Confirming mainstream economic theoryTheoria 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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72Health Inequalities and Why They MatterHealth Care Analysis 10 (2): 177-191. 2002.Health inequalities are of concern both becausestudying them may help one learn how to improvehealth and because health inequalities may beunjust. This paper argues that attending tothese reasons why health inequalities may beimportant undercuts the claims of researchersat the World Health Organization in favor offocusing on individual health variation ratherthan on social group health differences. Inequalities in individual health are of littleinterest unless one goes on to study how theyare re…Read more
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54Causal AsymmetriesCambridge University Press. 1998.This book, by one of the pre-eminent philosophers of science writing today, offers the most comprehensive account available of causal asymmetries. Causation is asymmetrical in many different ways. Causes precede effects; explanations cite causes not effects. Agents use causes to manipulate their effects; they don't use effects to manipulate their causes. Effects of a common cause are correlated; causes of a common effect are not. This book explains why a relationship that is asymmetrical in one …Read more
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341Philosophy of economicsStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2008.This is a comprehensive anthology of works concerning the nature of economics as a science, including classic texts and essays exploring specific branches and schools of economics. Apart from the classics, most of the selections in the third edition are new, as are the introduction and bibliography. No other anthology spans the whole field and offers a comprehensive introduction to questions about economic methodology.
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54Are there causal relations among dependent variables?Philosophy of Science 50 (1): 58-81. 1983.This paper makes explicit and takes issue with the bizarre view, which is unfortunately prevalent among social scientists, that causal relations are features of models only. There are some good reasons to represent causal factors with independent variables. But the association between causes and independent variables is only a desideratum in model construction. It is not a criterion for judging which things are causes and which are effects
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163The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 1984.An anthology of works on the philosophy of economics, including classic texts and essays exploring specific branches and schools of economics. Completely revamped, this edition contains new selections, a revised introduction and a bibliography. The volume contains 26 chapters organized into five parts: Classic Discussions, Positivist and Popperian Views, Ideology and Normative Economics, Branches and Schools of Economics and Their Methodological Problems and New Directions in Economic Methodolog…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 |