Thursday, July 19, 2018

Capitalism and Mathematization

The adequacy of the Mathematization of Economics presupposes the regularity of the phenomena that constitute the latter.  Now, in Capitalism, that presupposition is rooted in two of the cardinal theses of the system: that the behavior of individual agents is rational, and that there exists an Invisible Hand that harmonizes those individual components.  But, each of the thesis is plainly dubious.  First, the positing of an existence of an invisible entity violates Smith's own Empiricism.  Second, the neglect, typical of the system, of the distinction between Belief and Knowledge potentially undercuts any attribution of Rationality.  So, the Mathematization of the phenomena is not well-grounded.  Furthermore, of practical significance, absent regularity, the standard justification for sanctifying the phenomena against active interference also disappears.  In other words, the system is thereby exposed as fundamentally random, to which a Laissez-Faire treatment is inappropriate.

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