Sebastian Thieme

Economic Misanthropy

Is economics a misanthropic science?

19 pp. · 4.16 EUR
( June 20, 2016 )

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Introduction:

The (current) discussion about the knowledge of economics is mainly focused on the "realism" of the established economics. For instance, what are the (more) "realistic" assumptions or axioms, which are necessary to turn an artificial theory into a "realistic" theory? Or (recurring on current events), what are the real causes of the financial crises? In contrast to this, the following essay is not limited to such kind of realism; but I rather want to discuss the elements of economics which usually lead the economic thinking into the conflict with social values (e. g. solidarity or human dignity). Therefore, I try to extend the perspective of the discussion about economics towards the ethical and social conflicts of economic theorizing. Since this essay can only provide a short introduction to this problem, I deliberately prefer the form of an essay to give a concentrated and short presentation of the “economic misanthropy” problem.