Author : Eduardo Giannetti Da Fonseca
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 052139306X
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (213 download)
Book Synopsis Beliefs in Action by : Eduardo Giannetti Da Fonseca
Download or read book Beliefs in Action written by Eduardo Giannetti Da Fonseca and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991-10-25 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is concerned with the role of economic philosophy ("ideas") in the processes of belief-formation and social change. Its aim is to further our understanding of the behavior of the individual economic agent by bringing to light and examining the function of non-rational dispositions and motivations ("passions") in the determination of the agent's beliefs and goals. Drawing on the work of David Hume and Adam Smith, the book spells out the particular ways in which the passions come to affect our ordinary understanding and conduct in practical affairs and the intergenerational and interpersonal transmission of ideas through language. Concern with these problems, it is argued, lies at the heart of an important tradition in the British moral philosophy. This emphasis on the non-rational nature of our belief-fixation mechanisms has important implications: it helps to clarify and qualify the misleading claims often made by utilitarian, Marxist, Keynesian, and neo-liberal economic philosophers, all of whom stress the overriding power of ideas to shape conduct, policy, and institutions.