1st Edition
The Philosophy of Keynes' Economics Probability, Uncertainty and Convention
John Maynard Keynes was arguably the most influential Western economist ofthe twentieth century. His emphasis on the nature and role of uncertainty ineconomics is a dominant theme in his writings.
This book brings together a wide array of experts on Keynes’s contributions tothe philosophy of probability and to economics, including Gay Tulip Meeks,Sheila Dow and John Davis. Themes covered include:
- Keynesian probability and uncertainty
- the foundations of Keynes’s economics
- the relationship between Keynes’s earlier and later thought
The Philosophy of Keynes’s Economics is a readable and comprehensive bookthat will interest students and academics interested in the man and his thought.
1. Introduction (Jochen Runde and Sohei Mizuhara)
Part 1: Probability, uncertainty and choice
2. Keynes on the rationality of decision procedures underuncertainty: the investment decision (Gay Tulip Meeks)
3. On the nature of Keynesian probability (Charles R. McCann Jr.)
4. On some explicit links between Keynes’s A Treatise onProbability and The General Theory (Jochen Runde)
5. Keynes’s epistemology (Athol Fitzgibbons)
Part 2: Continuity issues
6. The end of Keynes and philosophy? (Bradley W. Bateman)
7. The thick and the thin of controversy (Rod O'Donnell)
8. The relationship between Keynes’s early and later philosophical thinking (John B. Davis)
9. Probability and uncertainty in Keynes’s The GeneralTheory (Donald Gillies)
10. No faith, no conversion: the evolution of Keynes’s ideasonuncertainty under the influence of Johannes vonKries (Guido Fioretti)
Part 3: Social ontology
11. The foundations of Keynes’s economics (Ted Winslow)
12. Keynes’s realist orientation (Tony Lawson)
13. Keynes and transformation (Stephen P. Dunn)
Part 4: Convention
14. On convention: Keynes, Lewis and the French School (Jörg Bibow, Paul Lewis & Jochen Runde)
15. Keynesian convention: a textual note (Sohei Mizuhara)
Part 5: Methodology
16. Probability, uncertainty and convention: economists’knowledge and the knowledge of economic actors (Sheila C. Dow)
17. Keynes: economics as a branch of probable logic (Anna Carabellis)
Part 6: Looking ahead
18. The terminology of uncertainty in economics and thephilosophy of an active role for government policies (Paul Davidson)
19. Keynesian uncertainty: what do we know? (Bill Gerrard)
Biography
Jochen Runde is Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge (UK); Fellow and Graduate Tutor at Girton College, Cambridge (UK); and Associate Director of the Professional Practice Programme, Cambridge-Massachusetts Institute (USA).
Sohei Mazuhara is Professor of Economics at Ryukoku University, Japan.
'An extremely useful introduction to the Keynes and philosophy literature that has the great advantage of letting the participants in controversies speak for themselves.' -- D.E. Moggridge, Professor of Economics, University of Toronto, Canada.
'Afficionados of the old economics literature know that Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, Malthus's Principles ..., Marshall's Industry & Trade, and Commons's Legal Foundations likely surpass in originality and insights the books for which these worthies are generally known. So too Maynard Keynes's Treatise on Probability surpasses his more popular reads. This significant volume brings together 18 critical essays (plus an Introduction that truly orients the reader) which serve to reintroduce Keynes's brilliance to readers who have read and perhaps tired of his General Theory. Cambridge is not yet done with Keynes, and the profession is not yet done with Cambridge.' Mark Perlman, University of Pittsburgh, USA.
'[It is] a very useful addition to an already considerable literature, and it can replace in part the reading of the totality of this literature. It deserves to be added to reading lists of all courses on Keynes.' -- Economics and Philosophy
