At 02:56 AM 7/23/97 -0700, you wrote: >It's relevant that Keynes doesn't condemn, here, the use of mathematics >in economics (as for him, he rather liked to have recourse to them up to >tautology), but that he implicitly accuses the lack of a conceptual >basis in economics, so much so that "the back of the head" is nothing >but a rough substitute for it. > >Economics aren't yet a true science, although such a tool has never been >so necessary as nowadays. That's the reason why econometrics ask >mathematics to fill the conceptual gap. This matter is economically the >most important one, but I'm afraid it doesn't interest the most of >economists... In this context, it is revealing to examine the etymological roots of the word "mathematics" - it derives from the ancient Greek and means "what is already known" - based on Heidegger's interpretation, that suggest mere cataloguing of information acquired through other means, rather than discovering new information. Intuition or insight, on the other hand, denoted in classical philosophy a cognitive faculty of direct acquisition of new information. In that aspect, it was comparable to experience, except that intuition was more valuable than experience because it allowed the inquiring mind to directly access the 'essences of things' rather than their appearences. This distinction between formal deduction (as in mathematics) and intution forming the basis of deduction (that's how we comprehend axioms) was still present in post Kartesian thought (cf. Baruch Spinoza). In essence, formal deduction was considered a vastly inferior to intuition form of knowledge, until modern times, when it became a tool of natural sciences perceived as successful. Therefore, the mystification of mathematics in modern economics can be compared to cargo cults that spread on some Pacific isalands after World War II. The Americans established air bases on those islands, and to buy the aborigines' loyalty, they showered them with goodies which, of course, they transpored by air. After the war, the Gringos left, and the trickle of goodies dried up. To reverse their fortune, the aborigines started to emulate what the Gringos did -- building aircraft carrying the goodies to the islands. Except that lacking the proper materials, the aborigines built those aircraft from sticks and straw. regards, wojtek sokolowski institute for policy studies johns hopkins university baltimore, md 21218 [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (410) 516-4056 fax: (410) 516-8233 POLITICS IS THE SHADOW CAST ON SOCIETY BY BIG BUSINESS. AND AS LONG AS THIS IS SO, THE ATTENUATI0N OF THE SHADOW WILL NOT CHANGE THE SUBSTANCE. - John Dewey
