POS L2 The ideal of positive science (1) Flashcards
The pretense of knowledge
Hayek worried aloud that thinking of economics as a science might fuel what he called “the pretense of knowledge”—the idea that anyone could know enough to engineer society successfully.
Recent issues with the pretense of knowledge
Recent government interventions suggest that politicians and bureaucrats today think they can design just about anything. This ignorance has backfired, as it always does, bringing with it what economists call “unintended consequences.”
Problem with the pretense of knowledge
It denies individual responsibility, which means that it assumes that all individuals are the same and it does not take into consideration the intentions of humans.
(economics is not like physics, not fully rational)
The double hermeneutic
Natural science is one-way
- looks at intentions
- theory can and does change reality
- social science is two way (natural science is only one-way)
- social sciences studies how people understand their world and how this understanding shapes their practices
- people think and use new information to revise their understanding –> they can use the knowledge and insights of social science to change their practice
What is an example of double hermeneutics by Goshal
That management theory is self-fulfilling
Determinism
Determinism, in philosophy, theory that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes. Determinism is usually understood to preclude free will because it entails that humans cannot act otherwise than they do.
You can predict what will happen next according to several laws of nature (used in natural science)
(the assumption that everything has cause and effect)
Behavioral assumptions
The behavioral assumption is one of the basics theories in classical finance. The assumption is that, under their resource constraints, human attempt to maximize their utilities, which means biggest profit and outcomes.
The two most important characteristics of the human under the behavioral assumption are rationality and self-interest.
Examples of social causal claims
Population increase causes technological innovation.
• A free press causes allow incidence of famine.
Intentional explanation
In philosophy, intentionality is the power of minds and mental states to be about, to represent, or to stand for, things, properties and states of affairs.
- tries to understand the intentions that led to the actions
- intentions are the explanation of something
- Intentional explanation is future oriented
- communication has to be possible
Functional explanation
the function of a certain object gives explanation to the existence of that object
Problem with the functional explanation
Difficulties arise because functions are normative: there is some sense in which items ought to perform their functions; failure to perform is a kind of error. Philosophical discussions investigate whether and how this normativity can be understood in scientifically respectable terms.
Why do we use the functional explanation although it has flaws.
We use it because it gives us an initial start to solve a problem.
What is positivism
- way of thinking, an epistemology
- recognizes only that which can be scientifically verified or capable of logical or mathematical proof and rejects metaphysics and theism.
- based on empirical evidence (observation)
What is positivism based on?
Verified data (positive facts) received from the senses are known as empirical evidence; thus positivism is based on empiricism.
logical positivism (later called logical empiricism)
a form of positivism, developed by members of the Vienna Circle, which considers that the only meaningful philosophical problems are those which can be solved by logical analysis.
we use observation and logic to come up with general statements
two statements in logical positivism:
analytical and synthetic statement
Why was logical positivism developed?
After WW1. WW1 was caused because of miscalculations and irrational (nationalistic) sentiments
Metaphysics
the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, identity, time, and space.
- concepts and theories which we cannot verify if they are true through observation; like the existence of god
3 grand theories of knowledge that led to the establishment of logical positivism
- Rationalism
- Empiricism
- Idealism
Rationalism (epistemology)
- all knowledge stems from human rational thinking
- not based on observations
- example: mathematics
Example of rationalism
An example of rationalism is not believing in the supernatural.
Math and (Finance) are rational
(Finance has become a bit idealist; we now recognize that intentions so states of mind play a role in finance)
Empiricism (epistemology) or Positivism
- opposite of rationalism
- all knowledge has to come from observations (sensory experience)
Idealism
- combination of rationalism and empiricism
- knowledge has to come from both observing and thinking
- we add structure to our observations
- (belongs to metaphysical philosophies?)
tenets
principles of belief
Problem with Idealism
We cannot verify our own rationality. We have to resort to metaphysics.
- humans are born with the ability to think and organize thoughts. The problem is that we cannot prove that this is true. We do not know how much is true
Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing.
How does Idealism combine rationalism and Empiricism?
It gives structure to sensory experiences. Structure is accomplished through logic.
What is logic?
A language to structure our observations and turn it into scientific knowledge.
- metaphysics is no longer needed. This is called linguistic turn
logical nonsense
- you don’t need to observe it.
- We know it is false through logical deduction.
- about statements that are never true
Logical truth or Analytical Statement
- these statements are always true
- We know they are true because they are logical statements
- Truth of statement depends on the logical structure of a statement.
- The method of verifying the validity through logical analysis is called logical truth
What is the set of all possible statements?
Logical Nonsense
Metaphysics
Logical truth
Empirical truth
What is scientific knowledge? (out of all possible statements?)
Also called Logical Positivism
Empirical truth
Logical truth
Empiric truth or Synthetic statement
We can verify the truth through observation.
The truth of a statement depends on matters of fact.
Example of empiric truth
How tall is the Eiffel tower? … 300M
What is verification?
Determining the truth of a statement.
Unity of Science?
- we can put all our knowledge within one system because there is the single requirement. We can reduce all the statement in one system of knowledge back to observations through logic. We have the logic in the very center (language that we use to structure observations) then you are adding observations. Each discipline has each own subset of observations that they are adding to the system of observations. The holistic set of knowledge we call the unity of science ideal. According to logical positivism we can create the single system of knowledge. Strong requirement.
–> not realistic. Things that hold in one discipline do not hold in others.
Even though, for example, physics and sociology are distinct disciplines, the thesis of the unity of science says that in principle they must be part of a unified intellectual endeavor: science. The unity of science thesis is often associated with a framework of levels of organization in nature, where physics is the most basic, chemistry the level above physics, biology above chemistry, sociology above biology, and so forth. Further, cells, organisms, and cultures are all biological, but they represent three different levels of biological organization.
Problem with logical positivism?
- for verification one needs absolute truth (Münchhausen. Trilemma)
- Popper stated that there is nothing we can be 100% sure about.
- there are other 3 problems
What are the two reasons that Ghoshal states that led to the economic problems at the start of the last century?
- negative image of economic theory
- pretense of absolute knowledge in management
Which two theories contribute to the negative image of economic theory?
- Economic theory
- Agency theory
Economic theory
assumes that people know their own preferences and they act according to those preferences. People work for their own benefits and opt to make selfish and rational decisions
Two philosophical streams that explain the pretense of knowledge. So why humans will never be able to obtain absolute knowledge.
Positivism and Determinism
Opposite of determinism
voluntarism
Voluntarism or free will
every person is responsible for his or her own actions and can do whatever he or she wants.
hermeneutics
not sure:
- the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation
- considers the interpretation of human behavior
- aims to understand the intentions of a single person, by looking through his/her eyes
Organic matter (biology) - intentional explanation?
no
I don’t understand how that relates to orcas being so intelligent
Aesthetic Fields (Arts) Causal, Functional, Intentional explanation?
No
What is theism?
Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of the Supreme Being or deities
Positiv theory
- explains the world how it is
- makes positive expectations towards the world
- theory-to-world direction of fit
Normative theory
- tries to explain the world as it is ought to be
- names normative expectations towards the world
- has a world-to-theory direction of fit
normative theory makes statements about what is right and wrong, desirable or undesirable, just or unjust in society. The majority of sociologists consider it illegitimate to move from explanation to evaluation. In their view, sociology should strive to be value-free, objective, or at least to avoid making explicit value-judgements.
Limits of rationalism
- no such thing as ethics within rationalism
- if there is a mistake at the beginning of the thought process, the outcome will be wrong as well
Limits of empiricism
- not everything can be observed, some (causal) relationships cannot be observed, for example gravity
What is language?
That we store information and communicate.
- in logical positivism we call this logic
What led to logical positivism?
The linguistic turn
From idealism we now have logical positivism. We have logic and positivism (empirical evidence; observations)
Which two building blocks are of importance to the establishment of logical positivism?
- Synthetic statements
- Analytical statements
Three problems that occur when using logical positivism
- Theoretical problems
- Dispositional problems
- The problem of induction
- Theoretical problems of logical positivism
- not everything can be observed
not sure why that is a problem
What do we have to adapt to reduce everything logic?
We have to adapt the requirement of reduction
Two requirements for a logical reduction
- A theoretical concept explains something that you think is true but has not been observed yet.
- A theoretical concept needs to be able to produce new hypotheses about things we do not know yet.
Into which two parts can a theoretical concept be divided into?
- Intention
- Extension
Intention
the conjunction of general properties that together define a concept
Extension
The set of all (real-life) phenomena that the concept refers to
- Dispositional problems of logical positivism
- certain characteristics of objects are visible only under certain circumstances. These are called latent attributes.
- The problem of induction which occurs when using logical positivism
- induction is a generalized statement after a couple of observations
- problem: new information can change the entire generalization
- -> not a valid matter of thinking
Deduction
- opposite of induction
- valid way of gathering information
Formative concepts
shaped by their characteristics
Example of a formative concept
free elections and free speech + etc. form democracy
Reflective concepts
concepts are clear because the characteristics of the concept are shown
example of reflective concepts
- symptoms show the disease
Revised model of logical positivism
- called standard view
standard view
- follows that same reasoning as logical positivism but there are two differences:
- theoretical and dispositional concepts are allowed
- induction is allowed
The requirement of logical reducibility
The single requirement in logical positivism
- that you can go back from general through logic to observations
–> we can create the unity of science ideal
