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CHALLENGING THE EMPIRICAL EMPIRE
Author(s) -
Jackson Helen,
Ormerod Paul
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0270.2009.01981.x
Subject(s) - consequentialism , action (physics) , democracy , set (abstract data type) , planner , value (mathematics) , empirical research , law and economics , tacit knowledge , public sector , positive economics , political science , epistemology , economics , computer science , law , knowledge management , artificial intelligence , politics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , programming language
Many of the problems in the British public sector directly relate to the attempt to create a world fit for the central planner in which all tasks can be set down in a system of rules. The philosophy of ‘empirical consequentialism’ underpins this entire venture. This is the view that the empirically‐proven consequences of an action are the most valid basis for moral judgment of the action and that these can be fully evaluated through expert research rather than democratic dialogue. A crucial policy challenge is to restore the value of ‘tacit knowledge’ in the public sector, allowing individuals to exercise choice and judgment responding to feedback in a process of trial and error.