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Copyright © Cambridge Political Economy Society

research-article

Post-modernism and the notion of rationality in economics

Evanthia Sofianou*

*Since this paper was accepted for publication, the author, a research student of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, sadly has died

Abstract

The article assesses contributions from economists who see the post-modernist framework as providing a viable alternative to the behaviouristic model of action in economics. It is found that although post-modernism identifies many of the problems of mainstream economics it too remains unable to sustain the notions of choice and agency which it preaches because it fails to escape the anthropocentrism of positivist philosophy. Once this anthropocentrism is abandoned, it can be seen that agency lies not only in linguistic redescription but also in the understanding of real causal mechanisms which exist and act independently of any individual human agents.

Manuscript received July 25, 1994; final version received October 5, 1994.


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