IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jecmet/v10y2003i3p307-327.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Theory, method and mode of thought in Keynes's General Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Victoria Chick

Abstract

In my 1983 book, Macroeconomics after Keynes, I claimed that much that was original in Keynes was to be found not at the level of theory but in his method. Shortly afterwards, Sheila Dow's book Macroeconomic Thought (1985) introduced those of us who are not specialist methodologists to what she called the 'mode of thought'. In that book, and subsequently, it has become clear that differences in approach between those who take their inspiration from Keynes and Kalecki and those I shall loosely describe as neoclassicists lie at the level of mode of thought. Almost all post-Keynesians say that Keynes's General Theory is founded on a concern with time, uncertainty and organicism - features of Keynes's mode of thought. Yet, as far as I know, no one has shown precisely what the relationships are between the identifiable aspects of Keynes's mode of thought and his method and theory. This is the task that this paper sets itself. I identify four key theoretical contributions and their corollaries, and show how they are related to the deeper levels of method and mode of thought. This exercise is contrasted with the three-level structure of typical neoclassical macroeconomic theory. The underlying purpose is to help modern theory develop in a fruitful way.

Suggested Citation

  • Victoria Chick, 2003. "Theory, method and mode of thought in Keynes's General Theory," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 307-327.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:10:y:2003:i:3:p:307-327
    DOI: 10.1080/1350178032000110873
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350178032000110873
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/1350178032000110873?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 search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Anna M. Carabelli & Mario A. Cedrini, 2014. "Keynes's General Theory , Treatise on Money and Tract on Monetary Reform : different theories, same methodological approach?," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 1060-1084, December.
    2. Michael McLure, 2004. "Pure Duals, Derived Duals and Paretian Fiscal Sociology," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 04-25, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    3. Sonya Marie Scott, 2018. "Crises, confidence, and animal spirits:exploring subjectivity in the dualism of Descartes and Keynes," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 1-28, May.
    4. Anna M. Carabelli & Mario A. Cedrini, 2011. "Chapter 18 of the General Theory “Further Analysed”: The Theory of Economics as A Method," Working Papers 128, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.
    5. Fiorillo Damiano, 2007. "Il capitale sociale nel pensiero di John Maynard Keynes," CESMEP Working Papers 200701, University of Turin.
    6. Finn Olesen, 2010. "Uncertainty, bounded rationality and post-Keynesian Macroeconomics," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 109-124.

    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:10:y:2003:i:3:p:307-327. 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.