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Fingernails on the Mind’s Blackboard: Universal Reason, Postmodernity and the Limits of Science

In: The Bankruptcy of Economics: Ecology, Economics and the Sustainability of the Earth

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Wayne Smith

    (University of Adelaide)

  • Graham Lyons

    (Glen Bold Cattle Ranch)

  • Gary Sauer-Thompson

    (Flinders University of South Australia)

Abstract

We said in concluding the previous chapter that economists have pride in the mathematical foundation of their discipline. In many respects the alleged scientificity, rigor and “hardness” of the discipline derives from modern economics’ marriage with mathematics. It is impossible then to achieve our task of establishing the bankruptcy of economics without examining the mathematical and logical foundations of economics. We will be advancing a radical and controversial thesis here: mathematical logic, metamathematics and mathematics are not bodies of universal truths, necessary truths or analytic truths, for it is most likely that our most cherished formal systems are logically contradictory. Consequently logic and mathematics are not skepticism-proof and in any case should not be taken as exemplars of human knowledge. Before advancing this argument it is worthwhile giving a brief background sketch for readers who are not students of philosophy (but who still have their dictionary of philosophy at hand) of the present state of the philosophy of the methodology of science, and in particular as this relates to the philosophy of economics. Readers who require a more detailed account beyond our scene-setting should consult Redman (1993).

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Wayne Smith & Graham Lyons & Gary Sauer-Thompson, 1999. "Fingernails on the Mind’s Blackboard: Universal Reason, Postmodernity and the Limits of Science," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Bankruptcy of Economics: Ecology, Economics and the Sustainability of the Earth, chapter 3, pages 55-88, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-27569-4_3
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-27569-4_3
    as

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