Re: Whitehead on Deduction

[Ted Winslow <winslow@xxxxxxxx>]

It seems to me, by the way, that a discussion of the ontological ideas of
"self-determination" and "final causation" (including as part of the latter
the idea of objective knowable values) is as relevant to interpreting and
understanding Keynes as a discussion of the ontological idea of "internal
relations".

In discriminating the ontological ideas which are appropriate in a "moral
science" such as economics from those dominant in the physical sciences, he
points to all three.

"In the second place, as against Robbins, economics is essentially a moral
science and not a natural science.  That is to say, it employs introspection
and judgments of value."  (XIV, p. 297)

"The pseudo-analogy with the physical sciences leads leads directly counter
to the habit of mind which is most important for an economist proper to
adopt.
   "I also want to emphasise strongly the point about economics being a
moral science.  I mentioned before that it deals with introspection and
values.  I might have added that it deals with motives, expectations,
psychological uncertainties.  One has to be constantly on guard against
treating the material as constant and homogeneous.  It is as though the fall
of the apple to the ground depended on the apple's motives, on whether it is
worth while falling to the ground, and whether the ground wanted the apple
to fall, and on mistaken calculations on the part of the apple as to how far
it was from the centre of the earth."  (XIV, p. 300)

Best,

Ted
--
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