Re: individualism vs holism

[Roger Koppl <koppl@xxxxxxx>]

Stephen,

I think Keynes was a methodological individualist.  I'm fairly sure the
doctrine of methodological individualism came out of an attempt to swat down
the "universalism" of Othmar Spann and, perhaps the dialetical materialism of
Marx.  (Can someone speak to that?)  Spann taught that society is "based on an
objective spiritual reality, upon something which must be conceived as an
aggregate of a peculiar kind on a higher plane than the individual and
therefore super-individual" (1930, p. 59). This is the view that  "the mental
or spiritual associative tie between individuals exists as an independent
entity; that it is super-individual and primary, whereas the individual is
derivative and secondary" (Spann 1930 p. 60).  [Spann, Othmar. 1930. The
History of Economics, translated from the 19th German edition by Eden and Cedar
Paul.  New York: W. W. Norton & Company.]

Some versions of methodological individualism would have it that people are
not influenced by society or that they are "prior" to society in some grand
sense.  Most defenders today, however, would sign on only to a rather mild
version: The methodological individualist denies that collective entities
act or have purposes apart from the actions and purposes of the person that
constitute them.  Wouldn't most non-Marxists go along with that?  (And am I
right to imagine objections from at least some Marxists?)  The actions and
purposes and ideas of each of those individuals are influenced by the actions,
purposes, and ideas of the others.

If my definition holds, then I think Keynes was a methodological
individualist.  I believe all his aggregates can be "reduced to idividual
action" in the following sense.  You can figure out how the aggregate comes
out of what people do.  Aggregate demand is not "prior" to individual
action, but a result of it.  Colander's idea of macrofoundations of
microeconomics is perfectly "individualistic" in the sense given here.

Cheers,

Roger

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Roger Koppl
Professor of Economics and Finance
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Madison, NJ 07940
USA

World Wide Web: http://inside.fdu.edu/pt/koppl.html
Internet: koppl@xxxxxxx
Phone: (973) 443-8846
Fax: (973) 443-8804
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