Theoretical and Practical Reason in Economics. Capacities and Capabilities

CRESPO, RICARDO F.

Springer

Lugar: Dordrecht; Año: 2013 p. 110

978-94-007-5564-2

exercise of theoretical and practical reason in economics. The book presents some of Nancy Cartwright and Amartya Sen?s ideas as instances of this restoration. It views Aristotle as an important influence of both Cartwright and Sen?s thought, and looks at how we can use their ideas to develop an understanding of practical reason that is valuable for solving concrete problems in science and society.  Cartwright speaks of ?capacities? as real causes of events. When causes are combined in a stable way they produce patterns of behavior in nature that we can explain. She proposes calling this arrangement of stable causes a ?nomological machine?. Sen refers to ?capabilities?, as freedoms or possibilities of the human persons. Both Cartwright and Sen relate the terms capacities and capabilities to closely related Aristotelian concepts. Thus, this relation between capacities and capabilities suggests that we can combine these concepts to achieve certain results of interest to us in life. The introduction of capacities and capabilities implies a revision of the epistemological and anthropological assumptions of current economics. The book maintains that Sen?s capabilities are Cartwright?s capacities in the human realm; human capabilities are the real causes of events in economic life and should be seen as the basis of their explanation. Institutions, moreover, are like ?socio-economic machines? that allow us, through the use of practical reasoning, to appraise, deliberate upon and guide our decisions about capabilities (Cartwright?s capacities in the human world). Institutions thus embody practical reason and infuse certain predictability into human affairs. The book presents a case study: an index which partially contributes to generating a ?socio-economic machine?, the United Nations Development Program?s Human Development Index. This will be proposed as an example of how one can combine Cartwright?s concepts of capacities and nomological machines with Sen?s capabilities through the use of practical reason to enrich the work of Economics.