scholarly journals Crusoe’s Broken Window: A tribute to Frédéric Bastiat

2017 ◽  
pp. 259-288
Author(s):  
Christian Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Terminal Illness ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Human Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Robinson Crusoe ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
The One ◽  
Mind's Eye

Frédéric Bastiat was a great economist1 and writer, but most of all, he deserves everlasting fame as an educator. His 1850 essay «The Broken Window»2 teaches an unforgettable lesson. Unforgettable, on the one hand, because it is humiliating: humiliating to realize that one had not grasped an idea so simple yet so crucial for a basic understanding of economics. Unforgettable, on the other hand, be-cause once we have learned to «turn the mind’s eye to those hid-den consequences of human actions, which the bodily eye does not see» (Bastiat [1850] 2011a, 43), an intriguing journey of discovery begins. It has rightly been called «the one lesson»3 to which all economics can be reduced: to think through not only the visible and immediate consequences of human action and interaction, but also the unseen effects: those which are not yet seen, and those which will never be seen because they would follow only from an alternative course of action.4 Another sign of Bastiat’s excellence is that he was the first econ-omist to make extensive use of thought experiments with one or a few actors only, named, and sometimes ridiculed as, «Robinson Crusoe economics». In the imaginary laboratory of the desert is-land, we are free to set arbitrary conditions. In particular, we can construct the simplest version of any problem, where the essential features stand out most clearly. Simple scenarios, as Henry Hazlitt ([1946] 2008, 91) notes, «are ridiculed most by those who most need them, who fail to understand the particular principle illustrated even in this simple form, or who lose track of that principle com-pletely when they come to examine the bewildering complications of a great modern economic society». These complications can be mastered best by extending the analysis step by step from one ac-tor to a higher number, until real-world complexity is sufficiently approximated.5 When Bastiat was writing his last work That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen, he was suffering from a terminal illness closing in on him. We can only speculate what form it might have taken and how much more he could have achieved, had he been granted more time. But what is obvious in the work he did is the importance of Crusoe scenarios and of that which remains unseen. The thought experiments presented in what follows merely com-bine these two ideas. Thus, this essay is deeply inspired by Basti-at’s way of thinking, and hopes to do honor to his inspiration.

ZENO OBJECTS IN CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSIONS

2020 ◽  
pp. 130-135
Author(s):  
Igor Berestov
Keyword(s):  
Thought Experiments ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

We analyze contemporary thought experiments with some Zeno objects and infinity machines. On the one hand, we continue to analyze the examples from Hawthorne, 2000, pointing out the incompleteness of our comprehension of the examples from this paper. On the other hand, using a mode of reasoning associated with that of Hawthorne, 2000, we show how Zeno of Elea’s Dichotomy can be made immune to its traditional refutation.

Mit der Großstadt aus der Armut: Eine neue Theorie der Industrialisierung

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Mathis
Keyword(s):  
Mass Production ◽  
The Other ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Economic Welfare ◽  
Urban Agglomerations ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
The One

AbstractThere is no doubt that industrialization was the main cause of modern economic welfare. The reasons for more or less industrialization in various regions of the world have been discussed widely for decades. However, a closer examination reveals that none of the controversial arguments and explanations put forward stand the test of empirical scrutiny. What has previously been ignored is the central role of large cities in provoking industrialization. Given all the other preconditions necessary for industrialization, it was finally the mass markets of large cities that made industrial mass production profitable for potential entrepreneurs. Thus, wherever large cities and urban agglomerations emerged in the world, industrialization followed suit. In a global and comparative perspective, industrialization was not so much a matter of countries but rather a matter of regions dividing the world into highly urbanized, industrialized and more prosperous regions on the one side, and still primarily rural, preindustrial and poorer regions on the other..

(Selektywne) zwierciadło bazy danych. O dwóch wymiarach baz danych w kontekście Archiwum Badań nad Życiem Codziennym

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-111
Author(s):  
Przemysław Nosal
Keyword(s):  
Human Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Objective Information ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Content ◽  
The One

The aim of this article is to show the socio-cultural ambivalence of databases. On the one hand, they are perceived as impersonal technological representations providing their users with objective information. On the other, they are the result of intentional human action, were created in a specific context, and serve the realization of some purpose defined by their creators. The metaphor that arises from this duality is that of a mirror—reflecting the image of the world, but at the same time deforming it in various manners. The author presents the three main aspects of databases’ ambivalence. The first is the question of selecting the material for the database: the material’s ostensible objectivity and the subjective nature of the choice. The second is the question of the exhibition of cultural content within the framework of the database: the tension between an ideologically neutral presentation of the world and the strategy of exhibition. The third subject raised is the use of databases: full access for users, a framework imposed by the creators, or somewhere in between.

Grice on Irony and Metaphor: Discredited by the Experimental Evidence?

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marga Reimer
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

Recent experimental studies appear to discredit Gricean accounts of irony and metaphor. I argue that appearances are decidedly misleading here and that Gricean accounts of these figures of speech are actually confirmed by the studies in question. However, my primary aim is not so much to defend Gricean accounts of irony and metaphor as it is to motivate two related points: one substantive and one methodological. The substantive point concerns something Grice suggests in his brief remarks on irony: that the interpretation of an ironical (vs. metaphorical) utterance requires two distinct applications of second-order theory of mind (ToM). I argue that such a view has considerable explanatory power. It can explain an intuitive contrast between irony and metaphor, some interesting data on the ToM abilities of patients with schizophrenia, and some intuitive similarities between irony on the one hand and hyperbole and meiosis on the other. The methodological point concerns the relationship between the empirical psychologist’s (or experimental philosopher’s) experimental studies and the armchair philosopher’s thought-experiments. I suggest that the credibility of an experimentally supported claim is enhanced when it captures the reflective judgments captured in the armchair philosopher’s thought-experiments.

Reason, Self-Transcendence, and Modernity in Hegel’s Phenomenology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Bristow
Keyword(s):  
Human Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Narrative Unity ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Purposive Activity ◽  
Modern Self ◽  
Self Transcendence ◽  
The One ◽  
General Criticism

Chapter 5 displays narrative unity in the “Reason chapter” of Hegel’s Phenomenology by showing how consciousness as reason becomes, and takes successive forms as, purposive activity: first, as organism, then, as end-directed human action, and finally, as human action that is its own end. The successive forms of purposive activity in the chapter are generated as attempts to resolve the overarching tension between rational consciousness’s certainty of itself as an existing individual and its certainty of being all reality. The internal criticism of the successive forms of rational consciousness in the chapter amounts to a general criticism of distinctively modern self-consciousness, particularly of its individualism. It is argued that the alleged resolution of reason’s tension in the transition at the end of the chapter to spirit, in particular, to ethical life, itself contains a tension between the realization of reason, on the one hand, and its repudiation, on the other.

scholarly journals DIGITAL FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES MARKET: CHALLENGES AND THREATS OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SECURITY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.N. Reshetnikova ◽  
◽  
M.G. Magomedov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
Innovative Development ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Legal Definition ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
The One ◽  
Digital Assets

The paper analyzes the digital financial technologies development under condition of the globalization. The main subjects of the digital financial technologies market are identified, and their essential characteristics are determined. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the digitalization of the economy, on the one hand, is the basis for the modern economic systems innovative development, on the other, it creates new threats and risks for global and national financial security. The application of measures for the formation of a model of long-term financial and economic stability and security of the country, including the legal definition, regulation, and use of digital assets at the international and state levels, is proposed.

scholarly journals Thought Experiments and Philosophy in Organizational Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 263178772094252
Author(s):  
Martin Kornberger ◽  
Saku Mantere
Keyword(s):  
Organization Theory ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
The Other ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Philosophical Method ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
The One ◽  
Conceptual Work ◽  
Hard Place

Organization theory seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand, there are arguments that the field is too preoccupied with theory, leaving its work abstract and practically irrelevant. On the other hand, there are arguments that the field is overly empirical and too methods-driven, which hampers the creation of ideas that resonate with constituencies beyond the organization studies community. How to resolve this apparent conundrum? In this essay we argue that neither more theorizing nor more forensic data-driven work might address the problem; rather, and perhaps surprisingly, we propose that a philosophical stance might offer a remedy. The aim of this essay is (1) to explore thought experiments as a genuine philosophical method that is designed to develop promising ideas and concepts and (2) to reflect on how such conceptual work can help shape organization theory to be conceptually more stimulating and practically more relevant. We argue that this particular kind of conceptual work has been and should continue to be one of the hallmarks of organization theory. Thus thought experiments represent a valuable methodological extension of our toolkit as they provide crucial devices triggering transformations in thought and practice.

Frontiers Of Meaning

1957 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mcintyre
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
Faith And Reason ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Human Responsibility ◽  
The One

IT is an interesting commentary upon the place of theology in our Western culture and society to observe how many of the phrases we normally associate with it carry overtones of conflict and argument. ‘Science and religion’, ‘faith and reason’, ‘reason and revelation’, ‘history and the Gospels’, ‘proof and belief’—not all of them antithetic to one another, but all of them areas within which there has been in the last century in all cases and much longer in some, much violent discussion. So the picture has been built up of theology as contained within a ring of frontiers, across which it seeks to parley with those on the other side, to exchange meanings, to transfer information, if only to the extent of saying what each thought of the other.On one of these frontiers theology had a long conversation with science as to the understanding of the Genesis story of Creation in the light of evolutionary theories, or of the Christology of the two natures and the one Person in the light of modern psychological views of the unity of personality; across another frontier, with the historians as to what constituted the historically credible or possible and as to whether theological presuppositions distorted historical narrative; across another frontier with the sociologists, as to whether human responsibility could still be affirmed in the midst of the vast tissue of modern economic, social and political pressures; again with the moralists, over the reconciliation of grace and freedom and the imperative of morality with the indicative of faith; while time would fail to tell of the Gideons, the Baraks and the Samsons, who have broken swords with philosophers over the veridical nature of religious knowledge, over the proofs of Divine existence and the nature of Revelation.

The Hermeneutic Conception of Culture

1998 ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Sampaio
Keyword(s):  
Human Action ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Activity ◽  
Main Work ◽  
Traditional Account ◽  
Educative Process ◽  
The One ◽  
Radical Relativism ◽  
The Ideal

Heidegger, the founder of the hermeneutic paradigm, rejected the traditional account of cultural activity as a search for universally valid foundations for human action and knowledge. His main work, Sein und Zeit (1927), develops a holistic epistemology according to which all meaning is context-dependent and permanently anticipated from a particular horizon, perspective or background of intelligibility. The result is a powerful critique directed against the ideal of objectivity. Gadamer shares with Heidegger the hermeneutic reflections developed in Sein und Zeit and the critique of objectivity, describing the cultural activity as an endless process of "fusions of horizons." On the one hand, this is an echo of the Heideggerian holism, namely, of the thesis that all meaning depends on a particular interpretative context. On the other hand, however, this concept is an attempt to cope with the relativity of human existence and to avoid the dangers of a radical relativism. In fact, through an endless, free and unpredictable process of fusions of horizons, our personal horizon is gradually expanded and deprived of its distorting prejudices in such a way that the educative process (Bildung) consists in this multiplication of hermeneutic experiences. Gadamer succeeds therefore in presenting a non-foundationalist and non-teleological theory of culture.

scholarly journals The Paradox of Purity: Interpretation and Theological Implications of the Words καθαρός [katharos] and καθαρότης [katharotēs] in Wis 7:22–28

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 221-239
Author(s):  
Mateusz Krawczyk
Keyword(s):  
Human Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Aspect ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The double use of the word with the καθαρ root in the text of Wis 7:22–28 may set the interpretative direction for the discussion of the whole pericope. The exegesis of the pericope in the key of purity shows the following possibility of understanding the text: the moral aspect of purity of Wisdom can be imparted by it to pure people. A contradiction (paradox) in the text which concerns the subject of purity is observed: purity is, on the one hand, a condition, on the other, an effect of Wisdom’s imparting action. A look at the further context of pericope Wis 7:22–28 (in particular Wis 9 and Wis 10) can lead to a probable solution to this potential contradiction: it lies in the idea of being elected by God, which anticipates human action.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document