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Volitional Pragmatism: The Collective Construction of Rules to Live By

Volitional Pragmatism: The Collective Construction of Rules to Live By Volitional Pragmatism: The Collective Construction of Rules to Live By1 daniel w. bromley University of Wisconsin-Madison I. Introduction As an economist, I was raised on the milk of prescriptive consequentialism. The theoretical architecture of rational choice, welfare economics, and its applied version--benefit-cost analysis--was offered up as the definitive answer to a wide range of public policy problems. Welfare economics was alleged to offer value-free solutions to value-laden policy debates. Symbolic of this confidence is the claim by Milton Friedman: [C]urrently in the Western world, and especially in the United States, differences about economic policy among disinterested citizens derive predominantly from different predictions about the economic consequences of taking action--differences that in principle can be eliminated by the progress of positive economics--rather than from fundamental differences in basic values, differences about which men can ultimately only fight. (Friedman 5) In this famous quote from Friedman, we see an admission--no doubt unintended--that the moral (ethical) content of economics is unavoidable. His instrumentalism allows him to celebrate what he assumes to be value-free analysis--"positive economics"--but in doing so, he acknowledges that there are economic issues over which fighting is inevitable. Indeed, if fighting is the only way to resolve such issues, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Pluralist University of Illinois Press

Volitional Pragmatism: The Collective Construction of Rules to Live By

The Pluralist , Volume 10 (1) – Feb 5, 2015
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University of Illinois Press
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Copyright © University of Illinois Press
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1944-6489
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Abstract

Volitional Pragmatism: The Collective Construction of Rules to Live By1 daniel w. bromley University of Wisconsin-Madison I. Introduction As an economist, I was raised on the milk of prescriptive consequentialism. The theoretical architecture of rational choice, welfare economics, and its applied version--benefit-cost analysis--was offered up as the definitive answer to a wide range of public policy problems. Welfare economics was alleged to offer value-free solutions to value-laden policy debates. Symbolic of this confidence is the claim by Milton Friedman: [C]urrently in the Western world, and especially in the United States, differences about economic policy among disinterested citizens derive predominantly from different predictions about the economic consequences of taking action--differences that in principle can be eliminated by the progress of positive economics--rather than from fundamental differences in basic values, differences about which men can ultimately only fight. (Friedman 5) In this famous quote from Friedman, we see an admission--no doubt unintended--that the moral (ethical) content of economics is unavoidable. His instrumentalism allows him to celebrate what he assumes to be value-free analysis--"positive economics"--but in doing so, he acknowledges that there are economic issues over which fighting is inevitable. Indeed, if fighting is the only way to resolve such issues,

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The Pluralist – University of Illinois Press

Published: Feb 5, 2015

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