Adam Smith and the Buddha

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Wintrobe
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Zen Buddhism ◽  
The Core ◽  
Human Happiness ◽  
The Social ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
Economic Thinking ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Simple Economic

Economics is a powerful way of thinking. While there may occasionally be major errors in its application, at its core the principles of economics remain the strongest paradigm in the social sciences. Buddhism is also a powerful way of thinking. The central question in Buddhist philosophy is the same as that in economics: what is the key to human happiness? How can human suffering be reduced? But the answer to this question in the Buddhist way of thinking is exactly the opposite of that given by economics. Can Adam Smith learn from the Buddha? Can Buddhism learn from economics? This essay explores these topics. I first present an interpretation of what I take to be the core of Buddhist thinking in economic terms, and then show how that could be incorporated into economic thinking, and how economics would change as a result. I then try to do the reverse, and show how the economic way of thinking can clarify Buddhist thinking. I apply simple economic theory to develop a model of rational Zen Buddhism.

THE EARLY MODERN ORIGINS OF BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-54
Author(s):  
Richard Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Economic Rationality ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Behavioral Psychology ◽  
Human Conduct ◽  
The Social

AbstractFor all the recent discoveries of behavioral psychology and experimental economics, the spirit of homo economicus still dominates the contemporary disciplines of economics, political science, and sociology. Turning back to the earliest chapters of political economy, however, reveals that pioneering figures such as Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and Adam Smith were hardly apostles of economic rationality as they are often portrayed in influential narratives of the development of the social sciences. As we will see, while all three of these thinkers can plausibly be read as endorsing “rationality,” they were also well aware of the systematic irrationality of human conduct, including a remarkable number of the cognitive biases later “discovered” by contemporary behavioral economists. Building on these insights I offer modest suggestions for how these thinkers, properly understood, might carry the behavioral revolution in different directions than those heretofore suggested.

Reply to Comments

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-300
Author(s):  
Allen Buchanan ◽  
Russell Powell
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Moral Psychology ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Moral Progress ◽  
Evolutionary Explanation ◽  
The Core ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Elements

Abstract Commentators on The Evolution of Moral Progress: A Biocultural Theory raise a number of metaethical and moral concerns with our analysis, as well as some complaints regarding how we have interpreted and made use of the contemporary evolutionary and social sciences of morality. Some commentators assert that one must already presuppose a moral theory before one can even begin to theorize moral progress; others query whether the shift toward greater inclusion is really a case of moral progress, or whether our theory can be properly characterized as ‘naturalistic’. Other commentators worry that we have uncritically accepted the prevailing evolutionary explanation of morality, even though it gives short shrift to the role of women or presupposes an oversimplified view of the environment in which the core elements of human moral psychology are thought to have congealed. Another commentator laments that we did not make more extensive use of data from the social sciences. In this reply, we engage with all of these constructive criticisms and show that although some of them are well taken, none undermine the core thesis of our book.

scholarly journals A Dialogue on Social Inquiry: Expanding Our Understanding of Sociological Thinking

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Social World ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
Philosophy Of Social Science ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Core ◽  
Social Inquiry ◽  
The Social

Highlights Social inquiry is much more than the study of society. It further excavates historical facts, critically reflects on everyday happenings, and envisions the future we wish to create. The intent of initiating this dialogue on social inquiry is two-fold: a) to offer a sociological perspective (i.e. ‘thinking sociologically’), and b) to expand our understanding of sociological thinking. Sociological thinking can be developed by examining the periphery of the core. Context matters in understanding any phenomenon under the sociological microscope. Sociological thinking allows many different viewpoints to coexist within a larger structure and that it respects pluralism. Sociological thinking is about developing or providing a perspective to examine social nuances. Sociological thinking should act as a means for social transformation.  Social inquiry serves as a methodology for the social sciences and humanities. It deals with the philosophy of social science and the workings of the social world – giving a way for understanding both the biosphere and the sociosphere.

Rationality and social norms

1991 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Elster
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Instrumental Rationality ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
Inertial Forces ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
The Social

One of the most persisting cleavages in the social sciences is the opposition between two lines of thought conveniently associated with Adam Smith and Émile Durkheim, between homo economicus and homo sociologicus. Of these, the former is supposed to be guided by instrumental rationality, while the behavior of the latter is dictated by social norms. The former is ‘pulled’ by the prospect of future rewards, whereas the latter is ‘pushed’ from behind by quasi-inertial forces (Gambetta 1987). The former adapts to changing circumstances, always on the lookout for improvements. The latter is insensitive to circumstances, adhering to the prescribed behavior even if new and apparently better options become available. The former is easily caricatured as a self-contained, asocial atom, and the latter as the mindless plaything of social forces. In this paper I characterize this contrast more fully, and discuss attempts to reduce norm-oriented action to some type of optimizing behavior.

Intellectual Schisms in Philippine Psychology are Schisms of the Self: Meditations from an East-West Comparative Standpoint

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-318
Author(s):  
Joseph Anthony Narciso Tiangco
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Zen Buddhism ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Self ◽  
Value System ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
East West

AbstractCritical reflection on the study of psychology situates both students and practitioners in a position to ponder upon not only the conceptual, methodological, and perhaps, theoretical advances within the discipline, but more so, in rediscovering what psychology is in the first place. The first part of this paper provides a discussion on how psychology can be remembered and studied within the backdrop of a condensed history of intellectual progression. Within this context, intellectual schisms can be understood as prompted by the value system held by members of a scientific community. Such a value system, therefore, is also attributable to the emergence of contending perspectives and systems that characterize psychology within a postmodern context. The second part of this paper argues that since psychology is the study of the self, then Eastern re flections have a place in situating Zen Buddhism as it correlates with Western postmodernism. The problem of the self in Eastern philosophy is a source of rich insight in arguing that the emptiness of the self is, in fact, due to its fluidity. Given this, I conclude in this paper that the fluidity of the self accounts for the fluidity of knowledge in psychology and the rest of the social sciences. I pose the challenge that the practice of psychology in the Philippines, as a science and profession, should take on a spiritual depth in consideration of the positive values espoused by postmodernism from an East-West comparative standpoint.

scholarly journals A Praxeological Approach to Intentional Action

Studia Humana ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-33
Author(s):  
Alan G. Futerman ◽  
Walter E. Block
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Intentional Action ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
Satisfactory State ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Von Mises

Abstract The concept of Intentional Action is at the core of Praxeology, as developed by the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. Under this unique approach, defined as the science of human action and designed to study the field of the social sciences, Mises create “action axiom”: the contention that every acting man more satisfactory state of affairs for a Austrian scholar is able to derive the fundament human action; such as value, scale of value, scarcity, abundance, profit, loss, uncertainty and causality, among others. This paper intends to present the praxeological perspective on intentional action and its epistemologic implications; it also attempts to answer objections to this thesis.

scholarly journals Simpler Machine Learning Using Spreadsheets: Neural Network Predict

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Leong Thin-Yin ◽  
Leong Yonghui Jonathan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Neural Network ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Business Analytics ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Content ◽  
The Social ◽  
Business Application ◽  
Recursive Computation ◽  
Sales Pitch

Machine Learning as a phenomenon has gone viral, with many technologists and software vendors promoting it. However, offered tools remain highly technical and not accessible to those without rigorous training in Computer Science or Business Analytics. It would be more useful if end-users can understand it beyond the sales pitch or blind application, and perhaps, even work from scratch to build simple models without much additional training. With better assimilation and acceptance of this AI methodology as an acquired skill and not just head knowledge, many more may want to invest the intensive effort to learn the required tough mathematics and cryptic programming. Or, after simple trial explorations, be willing to put aside substantial budgets to employ skilled professionals for full-scale business application. With simplicity and accessibility in mind, this paper renders Neural Network, a key machine learning methodology, on the ubiquitous and easily comprehensible spreadsheet without macros or add-ins, employing only elementary operations and if so desired, optionally leveraging on its built-in Solver. We will show that backpropagation can be achieved using the elegant though obscure recursive computation feature, with no need for Solver. We will demonstrate the application of neural network on a familiar problem: early and prior prediction of students’ graduation GPA. The paper can be used to form the core content for introducing machine learning to non-technical audiences, particularly those majoring in Business and the Social Sciences.

scholarly journals Yes! We’re open. Open science and the future of academic practices in translation and interpreting studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Olalla-Soler
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Science Practices ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Academic Practices ◽  
Core Features ◽  
Publishing Practices

This article offers an overview of open science and open-science practices and their applications to translation and interpreting studies (TIS). Publications on open science in different disciplines were reviewed in order to define open science, identify academic publishing practices emerging from the core features of open science, and discuss the limitations of such practices in the humanities and the social sciences. The compiled information was then contextualised within TIS academic publishing practices based on bibliographic and bibliometric data. The results helped to identify what open-science practices have been adopted in TIS, what problems emerge from applying some of these practices, and in what ways such practices could be fostered in our discipline. This article aims to foster a debate on the future of TIS publishing and the role that open science will play in the discipline in the upcoming years.

scholarly journals Shaping the Grammar of Security.

AmeriQuests ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Lynn De Silva
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Critical Hermeneutics ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Core ◽  
Language Discourse ◽  
The Social

In Australia, practices of preemptive deterrence construct the political identity of asylum seekers as the ‘illegal other’, and as a threat to national security and to national identity. At the core of the state's illegality regimes lies the endorsement of exclusionary norms through the grammar of security. Who is responsible for the endorsement of these norms and how do they (re)produce illegality regimes? How are securitization moves legitimized and sustained through illegality regimes? How may they be resisted? A case study of Sweden illustrates how the securitization discourses mobilizing illegality regimes may be resisted through norm circles in the political sphere that endorse norms of egalitarianism, justice and equality. This paper focuses on the ‘critical realism’ associated with the works of Dave Elder-Vass and Roy Bhaskar. Elder-Vass draws on the philosophy of Roy Bhaskar to examine the ontology of language, discourse, culture and knowledge and their contribute to the construction of social reality, thus synthesizing aspects of realism and constructionism. Roy Bhaskar’s philosophy of the social sciences has aimed to crystallize a transcendental realist framework incorporating a form of critical naturalism and also critical hermeneutics.

scholarly journals Farewell to (post)colonialism in Danish-Greenlandic relations? And then again, maybe not…

2018 ◽  
pp. 152-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Musiał ◽  
Agata Lubowicka
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
The Core ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Post Colonialism

The aim of the article is to investigate the allegedly new relationship between Greenland and Denmark in Danish political and literary discourses relating to Greenland, by approaching it from two different research perspectives – those of political and literary studies. The analysis draws on the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu and his concepts of habitus, capitals and dispositions that together create a hegemonic order. It also applies the concept of framing, as operationalised by A. Pluwak, B. Scheufele, W.A. Gamson, and A. Modigliani in the social sciences. The essay is structured according to the core framing tasks: diagnostic, prognostic and motivational, and their confluence with the temporal frames of the 1950s, the 1970s and the period beyond the 1990s. The analysis employs examples from both post-WW2 official documents related to Greenland and produced in or on behalf of Denmark, and from Danish literature about Greenland published in the same time periods.

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