Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/171444 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
ICAE Working Paper Series No. 69
Version Description: 
Revised version January 2018
Publisher: 
Johannes Kepler University Linz, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy (ICAE), Linz
Abstract: 
From the two premises that (1) economies are complex systems and (2) the accumulation of knowledge about reality is desirable, I derive the conclusion that pluralism with regard to economic research programs is a more viable position to hold than monism. To substantiate this claim I discuss an epistemological framework of how scholars study their objects of inquiry and relate their models to reality. Furthermore, I argue that given the current institutions of our scientific system, economics self-organizes towards a state of scientific unity. Since such a state is epistemologically inferior to a state of plurality, critical intervention is desirable.
Subjects: 
Complexity
Pluralism
Epistemology
Cumulative Causation
JEL: 
A1
A2
B4
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.