Post-Keynesian Perspectives on Some Philosophical Dimensions of Keynes’s Economic Thinking
This chapter first describes philosophical influences on the young Keynes and then explores how interest in philosophical dimensions of his economic thought has grown since coming to life in the 1970s. The central themes in this burgeoning literature derive from Keynes’s analysis of how it is that ineradicable uncertainty sets the terms for decision-making processes and reasonable action. This raises interesting philosophical questions about the nature of rationality (and economic rationality in particular), of probability judgments and uncertainty, of skepticism, and of conventional behavior, as well as issues concerning the extent of continuity in Keynes’s thinking. The chapter sketches some paths discussion has taken, admires some routes, notes a degree of proliferation, and attempts to map a few misleading trails.