ECONOMICS–SCIENCE, IDEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY?
| Date | 01 June 1963 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1963.tb00333.x |
| Published date | 01 June 1963 |
| Author | A. L. Macfie |
ECONOMICS-SCIENCE, IDEOLOGY. PHILOSOPHY?
A.
L.
MACFIB
A
BOOK
entitled
'
Economic Philosophy
'
is today an event; especially
from the pen of a much respected Cambridge economist.' What
follows is not a review. For Mrs. Robinson covers the whole British
economic canon. But one philosophic issue lies at the source. The
reflections that follow are concerned with it. First, however, all
Scottish economists will wish, of their nature, to recognise with joy
that at last an economist of such note has asked (and given her answers
to) these deeper questions,
so
consistently ignored at such
cost.
They
will also wish
to
acclaim the fairness of the book, its clean clear
English, the witty commonsense of its aphorisms, and especially the
sheer courage of this
Confessio.
I
The course of the book is set by its first chapter, the title of which is
'
Metaphysics, Morals, Science
'.
Science and metaphysics are mutually
exclusive. For science is what can and metaphysics is what cannot be
tested or verified. The other subject, morals, is clearly metaphysical,
as unpredictable drives or interests play a part in all moral behaviour.
But to moral philosophy Mrs. Robinson prefers the word ideology;
and this because while morals have been considered by philosophers
as amenable to reasoning, she wishes to stress the belief that there is
a powerful, perhaps decisive force in moral behaviour which will not
yield to logical judgment; and ideology, as we shall see, does recognise
this element of cussedness in the facts. This cussedness seems to be
inherent in our make-up and situation. It breaks out in the contradic-
tions of feeling and emotions. And 'whether or not ideology can be
eliminated from the world of thought in the social sciences, it
is
certainly indispensable in the world of action in social life.la At first
glance it seems strange to suggest that some force that is essential in the
social world of action can be shut out from the world of social thought:
must not a philosophy by definition deal with all the facts and sciences?
The reason is, however. that it is believed there is some factor
1
'
Economic Philosophy
'
by
Joan
Robinson (yew Thinker's Library.
1962).
Mrs. Robinson has
also
outlined her
Credo
in Marxism: Religion and
Science' in the Monthly Review
of
December
1962
(New
York),
which
can
be
read in supplement.
2
Op. cit., p.
4.
212
To continue reading
Request your trial