Lawson on Veblen on Social Ontology

John Davis

No 2015-03, Working Papers and Research from Marquette University, Center for Global and Economic Studies and Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper discusses Lawson’s use of Veblen’s concept of ‘neoclassical economics’ and argument that the category of neoclassical economics should be jettisoned on the grounds that it obfuscates effective critique of mainstream economics. The paper links Lawson’s critique of closed systems and Veblen’s cumulative causation view by offering a reflexivity, feedback loop formulation of the latter aimed at overcoming the pre-Socratic dichotomy between Heraclitian and Parmenidean ontological thinking. The paper then reviews what this implies for three key social ontology doctrines: social reality as processual and highly transient; emergence and the appearance of novelty; the internal relatedness of social reality. Final remarks address the use of the ‘neoclassical economics’ concept.

Keywords: neoclassical economics; Veblen; Lawson; closed systems; cumulative causation; reflexivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B13 B41 B52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme, nep-hpe and nep-pke
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http://epublications.marquette.edu/econ_workingpapers/50 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Lawson on Veblen on Social Ontology (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mrq:wpaper:2015-03

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