Review of Economic Philosophy

Tag: Action

  • L’économie des conventions : une lecture critique à partir de la philosophie pragmatiste de John Dewey

    Abstract

    A branch of the French social sciences has emerged in the 1980s, known as ‘the economics of conventions’. The term convention is introduced to subvert the utilitarianism of neo-classical economic theory. However, there is no consensual and stabilized definition of this notion. According to the investigation undertaken in this paper in order to clarify basic concepts, this term should be used for naming a research perspective. Researchers involved in ‘the economics of convention’ face two issues : the methodological issue raised by the interactions between institutions and action; the political issue raised by the assessment and the improvement of institutional measures. This article aims to show how the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey allows for dealing with these issues.

    Keywords

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    JEL Classification: A13, B41, B52, B59

  • Fondements pragmatistes de l’institutionnalisme en économie. Théorie de la connaissance et théorie de l’action chez Veblen et Commons

    Abstract

    The aim of this article is to show that Veblen and Commons’ Institutional Economics is an original translation of philosophical pragmatism in social science. The link between pragmatism and institutionalism is analyzed at two relied levels:  the first concerns the conception of science and reality; the second concerns the conception of economic rationality and human behavior in society. We underline that the pragmatist vision about processes of thought linked to action and experience imply a renewal of the method as well as the subject of knowledge in economics, renewal which is characteristic of old institutionalism.

    Keywords

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    JEL Classification: A12, B31, B40, B52

  • In Memoriam Paul Ricoeur (1913 – 2005)

    Abstract

    This article presents a global survey of Paul Ricœur’s work which, beyond the diversity of the treated questions and matters, has in fact a deep unity. Having adopted an hermeneutic process which leads him to defend a theory of the narrative identity giving the concept of person of the  French Personalists a philosophic foundation, Paul Ricœur proposes a coherent social philosophy which transcends the trationnal opposition between liberalism and socialism.

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    Classification JEL: A12, A13, B40

  • Between the coerced and capable individual: the responsibility of the social entrepreneur. Elements for a phenomenological reflection

    Abstract

    Social entrepreneurship leads us towards two types of responsibility, the first as a type of obligation which refers to the juridical and viewpoints, and the second of a cosmological type, pointing towards the domain of action and creation. Entrepreneurship as a practice in itself promotes primarily a cosmological responsibility, so that by contrast the social dimension of this practice refers to its obligatory aspect. In this article, we propose to revisit the genealogy of these two fundamental significations of responsibility. Both have been founded in Kantian philosophy. We propose to explore the impact and also the limit of their articulation within the social-entrepreneurial activity. We show that the first refers to several traditions of moral philosophy, suggesting various extensions of the concept, which forces us to question its operative value, and the second which we will illustrate with entrepreneurial discourse – has been promoted in recent times more by using the phenomenological and philosophy of action approaches. We finish by considering the prospect for social-entrepreneurs to break away from this procrastination between two types of responsibility in the current context, formerly anticipated by Hans Jonas. The current success of political ecology and sustainable development is a sign of this possibility. This context is now characterized by fear of the future in human action, all other things being equal.

    Keywords

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    Code JEL: M13, M14.