IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jecmet/v3y1996i1p151-169.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A logical critique of mathematical formalism in economics

Author

Listed:
  • Ken Dennis

Abstract

Mathematical economic theory is lacking in logical rigour. Even if the mathematics used in constructing formal economic theory is rigorous as pure mathematics, economic theory possesses both mathematical and non-mathematical components. But mathematical reductionism fails to formalize the non-mathematical components of economic theory, and the method of numerics (outlined in this paper) shows how, in simple cases, the two components of economic theory can be formally identified, distinguished, and integrated. However, the real challenge to formalizing economic theory points not to mathematics but to problems of constructing a logic coping with propositional attitudes (belief, preference, intention) that lie at the very heart of economic rationality and can be treated only by means of intensional logic.

Suggested Citation

  • Ken Dennis, 1996. "A logical critique of mathematical formalism in economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 151-169.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:3:y:1996:i:1:p:151-169
    DOI: 10.1080/13501789600000012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13501789600000012
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13501789600000012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohammad Omar Farooq, 2009. "Masudul Alam Choudhury: Islamic critique and alternative to Financial engineering issues, Comment by مسعود العالم شودري: النقد الإسلامي والبديل لقضايا الهندسة المالية ، تعليق: محمد عمر فاروق," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 22(2), pages 259-266, July.
    2. T.A. Boylan & P.F. O'Gorman, 2007. "Axiomatization And Formalism In Economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 426-446, July.
    3. Steve Fleetwood, 2001. "Causal Laws, Functional Relations and Tendencies," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 201-220.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:3:y:1996:i:1:p:151-169. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.