Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

I. Scope
central cause of the profession’s failure was
The
desire for an all-encompassing, intellectually
the
Krugman and Romer have said that
Both
can conceal political arguments
mathiness
naturalistic or empirical clothing. This is
in
problematic because, in the words
especially
John Rapley, a political economist at the
of
of Cambridge, “scientists are
University
to reach their conclusions after doing
supposed
and weighing the evidence but, in
research
conclusions can come first, with
economics,
gravitating towards a thesis that
economists
their moral worldview” (Rapley 2018).
fits
these theories with mathiness can
Dressing
them more convincing, or at least more
make
to critique.
difficult
is there evidence for the claim that
But
lends the human sciences an aura
mathematics
authority, deserved or otherwise? Consider,
of
a minute, the pseudo-scientific claims,
for
by statistics, that are regularly
supported
in everything from advertising
invoked
political debates. One is reminded how
to
Thomson, a renowned 19th-century
William
known for his work on the laws
scientist
thermodynamics, had stated. “When you
of
measure what you are speaking about and
can
it in numbers you know something
express
it; but when you cannot measure it … in
about
your knowledge is of a meagre and
numbers,
implications of measurement are explored
The
section III. The success of physics and
in
in explaining our world may have
chemistry
to a perception that mathematical
contributed
have an authoritative force. Within
formulas
human sciences there is even a term for
the
“physics envy”, used to criticize the
this,
of complicated mathematics to appear
overuse
can guarantee the semblance
Mathematics
science, and sometimes that is enough
of
which a community organises its production.
by
not accidental that Adam Smith, whose work
It’s
Wealth of Nations (1776) is often seen as
The
founding text of economics, was a moral
the
Yet ever after, it was the holy grail of
philosopher.
to make their art into a science, using
economists
to uncover the codes supposedly buried in their
it
of human existence. They experimented
heart
mathematics and pondered Charles Darwin’s
with
in biology, but it would be the late
revolution
century before economics nally found a
19th
for itself. It found it in physics. But … the
model
very term ‘social science’ is probably best
the
as an oxymoron … in the 1970s, the Nobel
seen
Wassily Leontief warned against the drift
laureate
had begun in economics towards what was
that
and Romer have applied the
Krugman
critique to their community of
mathiness
economists, but it has been
professional
in other disciplines in the human
invoked
too. Steven Pinker’s book The
sciences,
Angels of Our Nature (2011) used a vast
Better
analysis to argue that the present is
statistical
most peaceful time in human history, and
the
a wide global audience including,
impressed
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates
apparently,
the philosopher Peter Singer. However,
and
methods were publicly criticized by
Pinker’s
Taleb, an outspoken statistician, author
Nassim
professor at New York University. To what
and
could a layperson access and critique
extent
methods? How would we know
Pinker’s
Taleb is right? For those of us who are
whether
non-experts, it can be difficult
mathematical
judge who is right and wrong, when both
to
appear to hold heavy-weight academic
sides
8
to convince laypeople and academics alike.
approach that also gave economists a
elegant
to show o their mathematical prowess.
chance
(Krugman 2009)
has always been an ethical and social
Economics
its purpose being to produce the rules
exercise,
nature of human beings makes any laws
social
behaviour tentative and contextual. In fact,
of
subsequently called ‘physics envy’.
(Rapley 2018)
unsatisfactory kind.”
more rigorous.
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