Category Archives: Philosophy

Economics as Social Organisation: Why We Should All Be Relativists

Posted on July 10, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

What if all the world’s inside of your head Just creations of your own? Your devils and your gods All the living and the dead And you’re really all alone? You can live in this illusion You can choose to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | Leave a comment

Keynes on Parts and Wholes

Posted on July 9, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

I never really liked doing jigsaw puzzles as I always found it a bit boring. But many people seem to find it a fascinating endeavor. Whatever you personally think of jigsaw puzzles, however, consider for a moment their aim and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 5 Comments

Born Blind: Lars Syll, Uncertainty and the Question of Truth Versus Relativism

Posted on July 8, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

“Blindness” — by Muchanu Designs Lord Keynes over at the excellent Social Democracy for the 21st Century blog has drawn my attention to a series of posts by the Swedish Post-Keynesian economist Lars Syll on probability and economics. This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 13 Comments

Fischer Black Redux: The Impossible Circularity of a Metaphysical Argument

Posted on July 3, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

In the last piece on Fischer Black we saw how he created, in his own mind, an entity called “noise” which, for him, explained all the shortcomings of the world. But such raises an important question: shortcomings in the face … Continue reading →

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Fischer Black, Noise and the Encounter With The Trickster

Posted on July 2, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. — Wikipedia Mathematics is often thought of … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 1 Comment

Nazism and Neoliberal Mythmaking, Part III: The Descent into Primitivism

Posted on June 21, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

In the first two parts of this series we saw first of all how Germany after the Second World War needed a reconstruction myth to sweep away the horrors of the Nazi past and yet, at the same time, avoid … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Policy, Economic Theory, Philosophy, Politics | 1 Comment

Nazism and Neoliberal Mythmaking, Part II: The State as Killer

Posted on June 21, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

In the first part of this series we laid out how those who wanted political power in post-war Western Germany sought out a myth with which they could at once wipe of the Nazi past and push their ideological line. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Policy, Economic Theory, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

Nazism and Neoliberal Mythmaking, Part I: German Reconstruction as State-Phobia

Posted on June 20, 2013 by pilkingtonphil

In a previous series of pieces about the origins of neoliberalism (available here: Part I, Part II, Part III and an interview) I put forward the idea that neoliberalism – and its extremist offshoot, libertarianism as represented by the Austrian … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Policy, Economic Theory, Philosophy, Psychology | 9 Comments

The Deleuzian Philosophy of Julian Assange

Posted on December 19, 2010 by pilkingtonphil

Well, I don’t know about you – but I’m getting really sick of the circus that is taking place around Assange. Even the more serious publications are taking interest in what is clearly a farce. What’s more, I’m now seeing … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments