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Wed Oct 11 17:23:25 2006 |
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Hmmmmmm. Religious economics? Perhaps it can find a haven within
heterodox economics?
It is difficult for me to make sense of the notion that there is some
special branch of economics called "religious economics." We must
acknowledge that many of the contributors to economic thought were
ministers of a church and, like Adam Smith, moral philosophers. But
didn't all of this end before the turn of the 20th century?
Of course there is a relationship between ethics and economics. But
ethics is not the same as religion. Religion implies "blind faith."
Ethics is different. How can someone who has blind faith approach
questions of economic policy from a neutral standpoint? How can she
judge whether a particular economic policy is likely to achieve its
objective, regardless of the moral significance of the objective? And
isn't the presentation of judgments about the suitability of the means
to achieving ends the main function of the economist?
One can readily understand how a person in Iran would be interested in
"religious economics," whatever that is. But shouldn't we make it clear
that religion and economics today are worlds apart. Mixing the two is
like mixing oil and water.
At the university where I taught in Oman, the only social science that
was not taught from an "Islamic point of view" was economics. I am
pretty confident that the reason for the exception is that the religious
censors did not realize that there was more to economics than its
contribution to business administration.
Best wishes,
Pat Gunning
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