IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bus/jphile/v14y2021i1-2n8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Academic discipline of economics as hedonist philosophy

Author

Listed:
  • Tiago Cardão-Pito

    (Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon (Portugal))

Abstract

Contemporary mainstream economics cannot be seen as disconnected from philosophical concerns. On the contrary, it should be understood as a defence for a specific philosophy, namely, crude quantitative hedonism where money would measure pleasure and pain. Disguised among a great mathematical apparatus involving utility functions, supply, and demand, lies a specific hedonist philosophy that every year is lectured to thousands of economic and business students around the world. This hedonist philosophy is much less sophisticated than that in ancient hedonist philosophers as Epicurus or Lucretius. Furthermore, it does not solve any of the systematic difficulties regularly faced by hedonist philosophy. However, the argument that economics is detached from philosophy works as a rhetorical artifice to protect its dominant underlying philosophy: Philosophical disputes would have to be addressed within the biased mathematical apparatus of quantitative hedonism. Economists and business students must learn to identify the underlying philosophy in mainstream economics and alternative philosophical systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiago Cardão-Pito, 2021. "Academic discipline of economics as hedonist philosophy," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 14(1-2), pages 199-207, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bus:jphile:v:14:y:2021:i:1-2:n:8
    DOI: 10.46298/jpe.8668
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://jpe.episciences.org/8668/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.46298/jpe.8668
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.46298/jpe.8668?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tiago Cardao‐Pito, 2012. "Intangible Flow Theory," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 328-353, April.
    2. Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2016. "A Law for the Social Sciences Regarding Us Human Beings," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 28(2), pages 202-229, July.
    3. Mariusz Maziarz, 2019. "The unrealistic realist philosophy. The ontology of econometrics revisited," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 39-64, November.
    4. Sheila C. Dow, 2008. "Plurality in Orthodox and Heterodox Economics," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 73-96, March.
    5. Clive Beed & Owen Kane, 1991. "What Is the Critique of the Mathematization of Economics?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 581-612, November.
    6. Arne Heise, 2018. "Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 37-66, May.
    7. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    8. Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2017. "Organizations as Producers of Operating Product Flows to Members of Society," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, August.
    9. Hausman,Daniel M., 2008. "The Philosophy of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521883504.
    10. Hausman,Daniel M., 2008. "The Philosophy of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521709842.
    11. Tony Lawson, 2004. "Reorienting Economics: On heterodox economics, themata and the use of mathematics in economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 329-340.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tiago Cardao-Pito & João Silva Ferreira, 2018. "‘Fair Value’ accounting as the normative Fisherian phase of accounting," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 149-179, September.
    2. Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2017. "Classes in Maximizing Shareholders’ Wealth: Irving Fisher’s Theory of the Economic Organization in Corporate Financial Economics Textbooks," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 11(4), December.
    3. Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2017. "Organizations as Producers of Operating Product Flows to Members of Society," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, August.
    4. Loïc Sauce, 2017. "Market process(es) and (un)knowledge," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 305-321, September.
    5. Cheng Li, 2019. "Morality and value neutrality in economics: a dualist view," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 12(2), pages 97-118, May.
    6. Marc Audi & Amjad Ali, 2023. "Public Policy and Economic Misery Nexus: A Comparative Analysis of Developed and Developing World," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(3), pages 56-73, May.
    7. Priscila Neves-Silva & Juliana Aurora de Oliveira Lopes & Léo Heller, 2020. "The right to water: Impact on the quality of life of rural workers in a settlement of the Landless Workers Movement, Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.
    8. Minford, Lucy, 2015. "Tax, Regulation and Economic Growth: A Case Study of the UK," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2015/16, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section, revised Jun 2016.
    9. Michael Lainé, 2012. "Keynes on method: is economics a moral science?," Chapters, in: Jesper Jespersen & Mogens Ove Madsen (ed.), Keynes’s General Theory for Today, chapter 4, pages 60-78, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Regina Moczadlo & Harald Strotmann & Jürgen Volkert, 2015. "Corporate Contributions to Developing Health Capabilities," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 549-566, November.
    11. Polterovich, Victor, 2017. "Разработка стратегий социально-экономического развития: наука vs идеология [Designing the Strategies for Socio-Economic Development: Science vs. Ideology]," MPRA Paper 81243, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Jay Mitra & Mariusz Sokolowicz & Ursula Weisenfeld & Agnieszka Kurczewska & Silke Tegtmeier, 2020. "Citizen Entrepreneurship: A Conceptual Picture of the Inclusion, Integration and Engagement of Citizens in the Entrepreneurial Process," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 6(2), pages 242-260, July.
    13. Mariscal Avilés, Judith & Benítez Larghi, Sebastián & Martínez Aguayo, María Angélica, 2015. "The informational life of the poor: A study of digital access in three Mexican towns," 2015 Regional ITS Conference, Los Angeles 2015 146351, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    14. Horodecka, Anna & Śliwińska, Magdalena, 2019. "Fair Trade phenomenon – limits of neoclassical and chances of heterodox economics," Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies, Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 6(3), pages 1-29, July.
    15. Mildenberger, Carl David & Pietri, Antoine, 2018. "How does size matter for military success? Evidence from virtual worlds," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 137-155.
    16. Peter Andre & Armin Falk, 2021. "What’s Worth Knowing? Economists’ Opinions about Economics," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 102, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    17. Kakarot-Handtke, Egmont, 2010. "Axiomatic Basics of e-Economics," MPRA Paper 24331, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Łukasz Hard, 2014. "Models of Mechanisms and their Role in Building Economic Explanations," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 37.
    19. Heidi Peterson, 2023. "Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA) or the Highway? An Alternative Road to Investigating the Value for Money of International Development Research," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(2), pages 260-280, April.
    20. James E. Sawyer, 2009. "Anti-Sustainability Rhetoric: Sketching Ideological Responses," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 49-71.

    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:bus:jphile:v:14:y:2021:i:1-2:n:8. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Valentin Cojanu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aseeero.html .

    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.