 Veritas, auctoritas, lex. Scienza economica e sfera pubblica: sulla normatività del terzo (Veritas, auctoritas, lex. Economic science and the public sphere: on the normativity of the 'third')Il Pensiero Economico Italiano, 2010, vol. 18, issue 1, 15-43 Abstract: To legitimate the authority and the validity of the economic science, economists have often claimed that the laws and the postulates of this savoir are scientific truths, in the sense of empirical, logical or self-evident truths. However, this discourse, as a legitimating discourse, or as a discourse on the ‘significance’ of the economic science, seems to contradict such a claim since it does not assert either empirical, logical or self-evident truths. To what type of truth, then, does the preaching of the economic science refer? Why is the economic science, as a savoir, preached as a ‘law’ to which one should obey? Is there an historical and theoretical nexus between the legal-political structure of the legitimacy and the preaching, rhetoric or discourse of the economic science? What does it mean that a savoir is an ‘institution’? In this article I examine the ‘Einaudi case’ as an exemplum of the discourses on the economic science done by economists in the public sphere. Analysing Einaudi’s preaching and epistemological speculation and comparing it with that of Pareto, Robbins, Weber and Schumpeter, I will show how from the background of well known dichotomies – such as positive/normative, fact/values, to be/ought to be, analysis/vision – the epistemological-anthropological opposition between Reason and passions emerges. This opposition is often assimilated to another long-lasting antithesis: that between Reason and faith. Moving from the perspective of Pierre Legendre’s «dogmatic anthropology», and by an apparently paradoxical reversal of the juridical and theological concepts of Einaudi’s discourse, I will try to formulate a notion of normativity of economic science, which is also applicable to other sciences, in view of an overcoming of the (false) opposition between Reason and passions. Keywords: Veritas, Auctoritas, Lex; diritto ed economia; discorso economico, sfera pubblica, normatività; finzione; Ragione e passioni; Pierre Legendre, Luigi Einaudi, Vilfredo Pareto, Lionel Robbins, Max Weber, Joseph Schumpeter (Veritas, Auctoritas, Lex; law and economics; economic discourse, public sphere, normativity; fiction; Reason and passions; Pierre Legendre, Luigi Einaudi, Vilfredo Pareto, Lionel Robbins, Max Weber, Joseph Schumpeter) (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pei:journl:v:18:y:2010:1:2:p:15-43 Access Statistics for this article Il Pensiero Economico Italiano is currently edited by Massimo Augello and Marco E. L. Guidi More articles in Il Pensiero Economico Italiano from Fabrizio Serra Editore, Pisa - Roma |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.