Conocer los mecanismos que operan en el mundo social es tarea fundamental de la economía como ciencia. La transformación del mundo social está vinculada a la reorientación de esta disciplina. Tal es la propuesta de Tony Lawson y la Escuela de Cambridge. Para que la economía sea reorientada ha de ajustarse a los presupuestos ontológicos del Realismo Crítico. En este trabajo se intentará profundizar en la naturaleza de los mecanismos y su relación con la economía como ciencia, y se presentarán (...) dos dificultades en torno a esta noción: a) la posibilidad de una teoría económica de sistemas abiertos, y b) el conocimiento de los mecanismos. (shrink)

El presente trabajo intenta profundizar en la noción de mecanismo en el Realismo Crítico de Tony Lawson. Penetraremos en la naturaleza de los mecanismos en este autor. Señalaremos su importancia para conocer el reino social, transformarlo y reorientar la economía. Mostraremos algunas dificultades presentes en la propuesta de Lawson en torno a esta noción: acerca de la viabilidad de una teoría económica para los sistemas abiertos; sobre el valor explicativo de los transfácticos y las posibilidades de conocer los mecanismos.

Tony Lawson, fundador del Grupo de Ontología Social y del Taller Realista de Cambridge, ha propuesto el realismo crítico para reorientar la economía. La transformación del mundo social, que intenta Lawson, surge de la adhesión al realismo crítico, esto es, de trasladar el realismo trascendental de Roy Bhaskar al reino social. Con el propósito de profundizar en las críticas a este movimiento, explicitaremos en qué consiste el realismo crítico, y cuáles son los presupuestos filosóficos de la mainstream según este autor. (...) Plantearemos las críticas en torno a: a) la noción de economía mainstream, b) las posibilidades de una economía fundada en la ontología social, c) el realismo de los modelos económicos y d) las nociones de aislamiento y abstracción. (shrink)

Tony Lawson, founder of The Social Ontology Group and The Realist Workshop of Cambridge, has proposed critical realism to reorient economics. The transformation of the social world that Lawson tries, emerges from the adherence to critical realism, this is, from taking the transcendental realism of Roy Bhaskar to the social realm. With the purpose of deepening the criticisms to this movement, we will specify what is critical realism, and which are the philosophical assumptions of the mainstream according to this author. (...) We will set out the criticisms on: a) the notion of mainstream economics, b) the possibilities of economics based on social ontology, c) the realism of economic models, and d) the notions of isolation and abstraction. (shrink)

This paper tries to deepen the notion of isolation in Tony Lawson´s Critical Realism and its relation with his position on the use of mainstream economic models to access the social world. I distinguish the notion of isolation and abstraction in this author. I show that the consideration of the complexity of social reality is related to his position on the role of isolation to reach it. Lawson´s social ontology is central to establish what the role is that isolation performs (...) in the knowledge of the social realm. There is, in this author, a pre-eminence of the ontological over the theoretical. How the world is determines the methodological possibilities to know it. (shrink)

In those parts of his paper that have the clearest bearing upon mycontributions, Simon Deichsel 1) elaborates various conceptions ofrealism; 2) declares himself an anti-realist of a specific sort; 3) seeks toidentify and criticise pragmatic aspects of my justification for adoptinga realist orientation; and 4) argues that his anti-realist perspective ispreferable to realism.An immediate problem with Deichsel’s project, if intended as acritique of my own realist orientation, is that the sort of realism againstwhich his anti-realism is oppositionally defined is not (...) the versionof realism I maintain. In fact the only one of Deichsel’s formulationsthat I unambiguously accept as a version of realism is ontological realism. Realism as I understand the term is about existence.It is ontological in nature. At its most basic, it posits the existence of an‘external’ reality.1So understood, realism is not a theory of knowledge, or of language,or even of truth. Indeed so formulated it says nothing about knowledgeor truth.2In particular it does not commit anyone to the correspondencetheory of truth, or indeed to any other theory or conception of truth.In fact it is not a semantic theory at all. (shrink)

This thesis attempts to justify a normative role for methodology by sketching a pragmatic way out of the dichotomy between two major strands in economic methodology: empiricism and postmodernism. I discuss several methodological approaches and assess their aptness for theory appraisal in economics. I begin with the most common views on methodology and argue why they are each ill-suited for giving methodological prescriptions to economics. Then, I consider positions that avoid the errors of empiricism and postmodernism. I specifically examine why (...) the two major strands of methodological criticism fail to give helpful methodological advice to economists and sketch out a pragmatic approach that can do this. (shrink)