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Economics and the New Physics Some Methodological Implications
Author(s) -
DRAKOPOULOS S.A.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
south african journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.502
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1813-6982
pISSN - 0038-2280
DOI - 10.1111/j.1813-6982.1994.tb01232.x
Subject(s) - disclaimer , citation , library science , sociology , law , political science , computer science
S.A. DRAKOPOULOS*(1) PHYSICS PROVIDES the ideal model of scientific inquiry for the majority of economic theorists. This tendency is apparent in the writings of classical, marginalist and neo-classical economists. The main reason for this historical tendency is the alleged scientific supremacy of physics over all other scientific disciplines, and the common desire of many economists so to construct the field as to emulate the scientific status of physics. Many economists regard nineteenth century classical physics as the ideal model of scientific methodology (Thoben, 1982; Mirowski, 1984, 1989) . The precise mechanical character of classical physics and, consequently, the predictive ability of the discipline seem the main reasons for its great scientific appeal. However, many economic theorists appear to be unaware that the scientific philosophy of modern physics has changed radically, a change that took place in the first decades of this century. The revolutionary character of the new scientific philosophy can be seen in a number of ways. For instance, the concepts of predictability and uncertainty, concepts particularly important for economics, have radically been changed. Moreover, the old problem of the relationship between the observing scientist and the objects under investigation has acquired new perspective. This revolutionary scientific methodology (associated mainly with quantum mechanics) is important for most scientific disciplines, since physics enjoys a "scientific supremacy" status for most of them. It has also had great significance for economics. The issue of the influence of classical physics on economic thought has received attention among economists (P Mirowski's (1989a) book is a representative example.) The purpose of this paper is, first, to demonstrate that the methodology and the new physics, which has also influenced modern philosophy The author wishes to thank Dr Sheila Dow, Dr T. Torrance and Professor P. Sloane, for their assistance. The usual disclaimer applies.