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On emancipators, engineers, and students: The appropriate attitude of the economist

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  • Erwin Dekker

    (Erasmus School of History, Culture & Communication)

Abstract

This paper presents an original conceptualization of the different attitudes economists have expressed toward their object of study. It distinguishes between a humanist and a scientist tradition in economics and argues that both stances can be combined with an active and a passive attitude. This results in four different positions or attitudes, that of the positive scientist (passive scientist), the social engineer (active scientist), the student (passive humanist) and the emancipator (active humanist). The paper explores the implications of the four positions and it argues that there are many threads within Austrian economics and Virigina Political Economy that point toward the attitude of the active humanist. As such it is an extension and a correction of the distinction drawn between the student and the scientist in my book Viennese students of Civilization (2016). It is argued that the emancipator position has to explicitly engage with what Buchanan calls ‘might-bes’, that is hypothetical changes in rules, institutions, or human behavior, and as such has important links with the critical tradition on the left.

Suggested Citation

  • Erwin Dekker, 2020. "On emancipators, engineers, and students: The appropriate attitude of the economist," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 55-68, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:33:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s11138-019-00439-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-019-00439-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peter Boettke & Steven Horwitz, 2005. "The Limits of Economic Expertise: Prophets, Engineers, and the State in the History of Development Economics," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 37(5), pages 10-39, Supplemen.
    2. Elinor Ostrom, 2010. "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 641-672, June.
    3. Dekker,Erwin, 2019. "The Viennese Students of Civilization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107565661, January.
    4. Ross Emmett, 2006. "De gustibus est disputandum: Frank H. Knight's reply to George Stigler and Gary Becker's 'De gustibus non est disputandum' with an introductory essay," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 97-111.
    5. Dryzek, John S., 1992. "How Far is it from Virginia and Rochester to Frankfurt? Public Choice as Critical Theory," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 397-417, October.
    6. Buchanan, James M. & Vanberg, Viktor J., 1991. "The Market as a Creative Process," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 167-186, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Students of civilization; Richard Rorty; James M. Buchanan; Scholarly attitude; Humanomics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B53 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Austrian

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