Comment on White on the Relationship Between Economics and Ethics

Abstract

This short comment on Mark White's comment on the relationship of economics and ethics focuses on the nature of economics and ethics as an emergent field of investigation. It discusses different types of between-discipline fields, and compares crossdisciplinary and transdisciplinary interpretations of economics and ethics. The 'domestication' thesis associated with borrowing across disciplines is examined in terms of the idea of a metaphorical transfers. Institutional constraints on between-discipline developments are evaluated relative to increasing specialization within and across disciplines. The transdisciplinary interpretation of economics and ethics is given a complexity theory explanation.

Economics and economic methodology in a core-periphery economic world

“…In contrast, the standard axiomatic foundations for rational choice are indigenous in the sense that their logic works to guarantee down-sloping demand and scarcity-based behavior, central concerns of economics.3 There are different ways of characterizing forms of investigation that draw on many disciplines: interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinarity, cross-disciplinarity, etc. SeeDavis (2018) for a transdisciplinary characterization of economics and ethics as such a field.Revista de Economia Política 39 (3), 2019 • pp. 408-426…”

Economics and Economic Methodology in a Core-Periphery Economic World

“…In contrast, the standard axiomatic foundations for rational choice are indigenous in the sense that their logic works to guarantee down-sloping demand and scarcity-based behavior.3 There are different ways of characterizing forms of investigation that draw on many disciplines. SeeDavis (2018) for a transdisciplinary characterization of economics and ethics as such a field.…”