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15Individuen, Institutionen und MärkteMohr Siebeck. 2007.English summary: C. Mantzavinos offers a theory of how the institutional framework of a society emerges and how markets within institutions work. He shows that both social institutions, defined as the rules of the game, and exchange processes can be analyzed along a common theoretical structure. Mantzavinos's proposal is that a problem-solving model of individual behaviour inspired by the cognitive sciences provides such a unifying theoretical structure. Integrating the latest scholarship in eco…Read more
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106Philosophy of the social sciences: philosophical theory and scientific practice (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2009.This volume is a unique contribution to the philosophy of the social sciences, presenting the results of cutting-edge philosophers' research alongside critical discussions by practicing social scientists. The book is motivated by the view that the philosophy of the social sciences cannot ignore the specific scientific practices according to which social scientific work is being conducted, and that it will be valuable only if it evolves in constant interaction with theoretical developments in the…Read more
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1118Le Cercle Herméneutique. De Quel Type de Problème S'Agit-il?L' Année Sociologique 63 509-526. 2013.Le cercle herméneutique a été utilisé par tous ceux qui ont défendu la thèse de l’autonomie méthodologique des sciences humaines par rapport aux sciences naturelles. Il est généralement perçu comme un problème ontologique ou logique par les Herméneutistes. Le but de cet article est de montrer que le cercle herméneutique n’est ni l’un ni l’autre. Tout indique, plutôt, qu’il fait référence à un phénomène empirique, qui peut être étudié dans le cadre de la psycholinguistique et d’autres disciplines…Read more
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28How to Explain Meaningful ActionsProceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 46 53-61. 2008.There is a long tradition in the philosophy of the social sciences that emphasizes the meaningfulness of human action. This tradition doubts or even negates the possibility of causal explanations of human action precisely on the basis that human actions have meaning. This paper provides an argument in favour of methodological naturalism in the social sciences. It grants the main argument of the Interpretivists, i.e. that human actions are meaningful, but it shows how a transformation of a “nexus…Read more
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EpilogueIn Chrysostomos Mantzavinos (ed.), Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Cambridge University Press. pp. 111-113. 2009.
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305A Note on Methodological IndividualismIn Mohamed Cherkaoui Peter Hamilton (ed.), Raymond Boudon. A Life in Sociology, . pp. 211-215. 2009.
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455The Institutional-Evolutionary Antitrust ModelEuropean Journal of Law and Economics 22 273-291. 2006.The purpose of this article is to provide an alternative antitrust model to the mainstream model that is used in competition policy. I call it the InstitutionalEvolutionary Antitrust Model. In order to construct an antitrust model one needs both empirical knowledge and considerations of how to adequately deal with norms. The analysis of competition as an evolutionary process that unfolds within legal rules provides the empirical foundation for the model. The development of the normative dimensio…Read more
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13Naturalistische HermeneutikMohr Siebeck. 2006.The central thesis is, thus, that there is no fundamental methodological difference between natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. The English edition of this work was published by Cambridge University Press.
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4Individus, Institutions et MarchésPresses Universitaires de France. 2008.Individus, institutions et marchés propose une théorie de l'émergence des institutions d'une société et du fonctionnement des marchés au sein de ce cadre institutionnel. L'ouvrage montre que les institutions sociales, définies comme les règles du jeu, ainsi que les processus d'échange, peuvent être analysés dans un cadre théorique commun. Mantzavinos propose comme structure théorique commune un modèle de comportement individuel pour la résolution des problèmes inspiré des sciences cognitives. Pa…Read more
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621Federalism and Individual LibertyConstitutional Political Economy 21 101-118. 2010.This paper explores the relationship between federalism and individual liberty. It is shown that a complete treatment of the relationship between federalism and individual liberty should consider two countervailing effects. On the one hand, a federalist structure enhances individual liberty by enlarging the choice set of the citizens. On the other hand, however, a federalist system leads to institutional diversity, a fact that per se leads to higher exit costs, which a citizen must bear if he or…Read more
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388Comment on Nancy Cartwright's 'Against the System'In Christoph Engel Lorraine Daston (ed.), Is There Value in Inconsistency?, . pp. 57-62. 2006.
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505Was für ein Problem ist der hermeneutische Zirkel?Analyse & Kritik 30 (2): 601-612. 2008.The hermeneutic circle serves as a standard argument for all those who raise a claim to the autonomy of the human sciences. The proponents of an alternative methodology for the human sciences present the hermeneutic circle either as an ontological problem or as a specific methodological problem in the social sciences and the humanities. In this paper I would like to check the soundness of this argument. I will start with listing and shortly sketching out three variations of the problem. I will t…Read more
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456The Plurality of Explanatory GamesIn Gianluca Manzo (ed.), Theories and Social Mechanisms, The Bardwell Press. pp. 325-335. 2015.
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136Scientific ExplanationIn Scientific Explanation, Elsevier. pp. 302-307. 2015.There are three main approaches to scientific explanation in the philosophical literature. The unification approach claims that science explains by fitting the particular facts and events within a general theoretical framework. The mechanistic approach claims that science explains by identifying mechanisms. According to the manipulationist approach an explanation ought to be such that it can be used to answer a “what-if-things-had-been-different question.” The article examines whether these thre…Read more
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1212Learning, Institutions, and Economic PerformancePerspectives on Politics 2 75-84. 2004.In this article, we provide a broad overview of the interplay among cognition, belief systems, and institutions, and how they affect economic performance. We argue that a deeper understanding of institutions’ emergence, their working properties, and their effect on economic and political outcomes should begin from an analysis of cognitive processes. We explore the nature of individual and collective learning, stressing that the issue is not whether agents are perfectly or boundedly rational, but…Read more
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105IntroductionIn Chrysostomos Mantzavinos (ed.), Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Philosophical Theory and Scientific Practice, Cambridge University Press. 2009.
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437Explanatory GamesJournal of Philosophy 110 (11): 606-632. 2013.A philosophical theory of explanation should provide solutions to a series of problems, both descriptive and normative. The aim of this essay is to establish the claim that this can be best done if one theorizes in terms of explanatory games rather than focusing on the explication of the concept of explanation. The position that is adopted is that of an explanatory pluralism and it is elaborated in terms of the rules that incorporate the normative standards that guide the processes of discovery …Read more
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294Beyond Homo Oeconomicus and Homo SociologicusIn Raymond Boudon Cherkaoui Mohamed (ed.), The European Tradition in Qualitative Research, . pp. 421-426. 2003.
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204The nature of science. A dialogueSynthese 196 (3): 775-793. 2019.In this dialogue the view of Paul Hoyningen-Huene as defended in Systematicity. The Nature of Science is presented and criticized. The approach is developed dialectically by the two interlocutors, a series of critical points are debated and an alternative view is introduced. The dialogical form is intended to honor the general philosophical approach of the author summarized in the last sentence of the book, where he states that he sees philosophy as an ongoing, open-ended dialogue.
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On Don Ross's Defense of Neoclassical EconomicsJournal of Economic Methodology 15 (3): 305-307. 2008.
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238Interpreting the Rules of the GameIn Christoph Engel Firtz Strack (ed.), The Impact of Court Procedure on the Psychology of Judicial Decision-Making, Nomos. pp. 16-30. 2007.After providing a brief overview of the economic theory of judicial decisions this paper presents an argument for why not only the economic theory of judicial decisions, but also the rational approach in general, most often fails in explaining decision-making. Work done within the research program of New Institutionalism is presented as a possible alternative. Within this research program judicial activity is conceptualized as the activity of "interpreting the rules of the game", i.e. the instit…Read more
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210Föderalismus und Individuelle FreiheitIn Harald Enke Adolf Wagner (ed.), Zur Zukunft des Wettbewerbs, . pp. 15-37. 2012.Dieser Aufsatz untersucht das Verhältnis zwischen Föderalismus und individueller Freiheit. Es wird gezeigt, dass eine vollständige Analyse des Verhältnisses zwischen Föderalismus und individueller Freiheit zwei entgegengesetzte Effekte mitberücksichtigen muss. Auf der einen Seite verstärken föderalistische Strukturen die individuelle Freiheit indem sie die Auswahlmöglichkeiten der Bürger erweitern. Auf der anderen Seite führt jedoch ein föderalistisches System zur institutionellen Vielfalt, ein …Read more
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274Der Beitrag Erich HoppmannsIn Viktor Vanberg (ed.), Evolution und Freiheitlicher Wettbewerb. Erich Hoppmann und die aktuelle Diskussion, . pp. 23-33. 2010.Das Werk Erich Hoppmanns wird durch drei Ideen geleitet. Erstens, eine Idee ontologischer Natur, dass der Markt ein komplexes Phänomen ist. Zweitens, eine Idee methodologischer Natur, dass der Markt mittels einer Systembetrachtung analysiert werden soll und nur Erklärungen des Prinzips möglich sind. Drittens, eine Idee normativer Natur, dass die Steuerung des Marktes mittels Regeln erfolgen soll, die gemäß dem regulativen Ideal der Freiheit konzipiert werden müssen.
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476What kind of problem is the hermeneutic circle?In Chrysostomos Mantzavinos (ed.), Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Philosophical Theory and Scientific Practice, Cambridge University Press. pp. 299. 2009.The hermeneutic circle serves as a standard argument for all those who raise a claim to the autonomy of the human sciences. The proponents of an alternative methodology for the human sciences present the hermeneutic circle either as an ontological problem or as a specific methodological problem in the social sciences and the humanities. This paper checks the soundness of the argument by sketching out three variations of the problem and critically discussing them.
University Tübingen
PhD, 1992
Areas of Specialization
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
Value Theory |
Philosophical Traditions |
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics and Epistemology |