課程大綱

課程資訊

課程名稱

經濟哲學
Philosophy of Economics

開課學期

105-2

授課對象

社會科學院經濟學研究所

授課教師

吳亨德

課號

ECON5146

課程識別碼

323EU8320

班次

學分

3.0

全/半年

半年

必/選修

選修

上課時間

星期三6,7,8(13:20~16:20)

上課地點

社科301

備註

本課程以英語授課。
限學士班三年級以上或限碩士班以上
總人數上限：30人

Ceiba 課程網頁

http://ceiba.ntu.edu.tw/1052ECON5146_

課程簡介影片

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課程概述

The course trains students to discuss economic concepts from a philosophical perspective. Is economics a science? Do economic models need realistic assumptions? What makes an economic institution “good”? These and other questions are raised in this course.

The course puts a strong emphasis on discussion and debate. Students are required to give two short presentations of research papers and defend the authors' claims in the following discussion. Students are also required to be discussants of other students’ presentations. To train writing interesting and coherent arguments, students write a short paragraph about the debate after class. In the final paper, students examine a recently published research paper from the perspective of one of the topics discussed in class.

課程目標

The course has two objectives. First, it trains students to discuss economic concepts in speaking and writing. Second, it introduces students to methodological and normative issues on the border of economics and philosophy.

課程要求

待補

預期每週課後學習時數

Office Hours

指定閱讀

Required readings for each week are listed above. Survey articles are not required, but may help understanding the main papers

參考書目

Hausman, D. M. (1992). The inexact and separate science of economics. Cambridge University Press.
Survey articles are drawn from the following books:

(SEOP) Salta, E. (2015) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University.
(ASS1) Arrow, K. J., Sen, A., & Suzumura, K. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of Social Choice & Welfare (Vol. 1). North Holland.
(ASS2) Arrow, K. J., Sen, A., & Suzumura, K. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of Social Choice & Welfare (Vol. 2). Elsevier.
(APP) Anand, P., Pattanaik, P.K., & Puppe, C. (2009) Handbook of Rational and Social Choice. Oxford University Press.
(DH) Hausman, D. M. (Ed.). (1994). The philosophy of economics: an anthology. Cambridge University Press.

評量方式
(僅供參考)

No.	項目	百分比	說明
1.	Short essays	15%
2.	Class Participation	25%
3.	Presentations	25%
4.	Final Paper	35%	(10 pages maximum length)

課程進度

週次	日期	單元主題
第1週	2/22	Introduction
第2週	3/01	Falsifiability and Paradigm shifts Popper, K. (1963). Conjectures and Refutations. Routledge. (Chapter 1) Kuhn, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press. (Chapters 2,3,4,9) Survey Articles: Hands, D.W., (1993) Popper and Lakatos in Economic Methodology. DH Nickles, T. (2013). Scientific Revolutions, SEOP.
第3週	3/08	Laws of Nature in Economics Explanation, Deductive Nomological Model, Statistical Relevance Model Hempel, C. G., & Oppenheim, P. (1948). Studies in the Logic of Explanation. Philosophy of science, 135-175. Salmon, W. (1971). Statistical Explanation, in Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance, W. Salmon, (ed.), 29–87, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Survey Articles: Woodward, J. (2014). Scientific Explanation, SEOP.
第4週	3/15	Causation Explanations, Counterfactuals, Causation Woodward, J., & Hitchcock, C. (2003). Explanatory generalizations, part I: A counterfactual account. Noûs, 37(1), 1-24. Lewis, D. (1979). Counterfactual dependence and time's arrow. Noûs, 455-476. Survey Articles: Menzies, P. (2014). Counterfactual Theories of Causation, SEOP.
第5週	3/22	Assumptions Positivism, Assumptions, behavioral economics, microfoundations Rabin, M. (2002). A perspective on psychology and economics. European economic review, 46(4), 657-685. Friedman, M. (1953). The methodology of positive economics. Essays in positive economics, Chicago University Press. Survey Papers: Mäki, U. (2009). Realistic realism about unrealistic models. Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics.
第6週	3/29	Economic Models Interpretation of Economic Models, Interpretation of Game Theory Sugden, R. (2000). Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics. Journal of Economic Methodology, 7(1), 1-31. Rubinstein, A. (1991). Comments on the interpretation of game theory. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 909-924. Cartwright, N. (2007) Hunting causes and using them. Cambridge University Press
第7週	4/05	Rationality Preference Axioms, Axiomatizations of expected utility Chapter 5 from: Savage, L.J. (1954, 1972) The foundations of statistics. New York, Dover Publications. Harless, D. W., & Camerer, C. F. (1994). The predictive utility of generalized expected utility theories. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 1251-1289. Survey articles: Grant, S. & van Zandt, T. (2009). Expected Utility Theory. APP. Chapter 7 from: Savage, L.J. (1954, 1972) The foundations of statistics. New York, Dover Publications. Gilboa, I. (2009). Theory of decision under uncertainty (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
第8週	4/12	Statistical Decision Theory Dutch book arguments, Ellsberg paradox, problem of the priors, maximum entropy priors, Bertrand's paradox. Hajek, A. (2009). Dutch Book Arguments. APP. Kennedy, R. & Chihara, C. (1979) The Dutch book argument: Its logical flaws, its subjective sources Survey articles: Eichberger, J. & Kelsey, D. (2009). Ambiguity. APP. Romejin, J.-W. (2014) Philosophy of Statistics, SEOP. Gilboa, I. (2009). Theory of decision under uncertainty (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
第9週	4/19	Mid Term (no class)
第10週	4/26	Social Choice Arrow's impossibility result, Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem Chapters 2 and 5: Gaertner, W. (2009) A primer in social choice theory: revised edition. Oxford University Press. Survey articles: List, C. (2013). Social Choice Theory, SEOP.
第11週	5/03	Utilitarianism Trolley problems, Ford Pinto case, Consequentialism vs. Deontological ethics Chapters 1 and 2 from: Mill, J.S. (1863) Utilitarianism. London, Parker, Son, and Bourn. Pattanaik, P. (2009). Limits of utilitarianism as the basis of public action. APP Survey articles: Blackorby, C., Bossert, W., & Donaldson, D. (2002) Utilitarianism and the theory of justice. ASS1 Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2011). Consequentialism, SEOP.
第12週	5/10	Voting Majority Rule, Borda count, Approval Voting, Random Ballot, Voting power measures Krishna, V., & Morgan, J. (2012). Majority rule and utilitarian welfare. Available at SSRN 2083248. Brams, S. J., & Fishburn, P. C. (2005). Going from theory to practice: the mixed success of approval voting. Social Choice and Welfare, 25(2-3), 457-474. Dummett, M. (1998). The Borda count and agenda manipulation. Social Choice and Welfare, 15(2), 289-296. Survey articles: Chapter 6: Gaertner, W. (2009) A primer in social choice theory: revised edition. Oxford University Press.
第13週	5/17	Judgment Aggregation Discursive Dilemma, List and Pettit's impossibility result List, C., & Pettit, P. (2002). Aggregating sets of judgments: An impossibility result. Economics and Philosophy, 18(01), 89-110. Survey articles: List, C. & Puppe, C. (2009). Judgment Aggregation. APP.
第14週	5/24	Equality Equality, Egalitarianism Rawls, J. (2009). A theory of justice. Harvard university press. (selected excerpt) Harsanyi, J. C. (1975). Can the maximin principle serve as a basis for morality? A critique of John Rawls's theory. Survey Articles: Tungodden, B. (2009) Equality and Priority. APP. Peter, F. (2009) Rawlsian Justice. APP.
第15週	5/31	Sen's Capabilities Approach Capabilities, Functionings, Informational basis of welfare economics Sen, A. (1979) Equality of what? Tanner lecture on human values. Survey Articles: Schokkaert, E. (2009). The Capabilities Approach. APP.
第16週	6/07	Freedom and Rights Paretian Liberal, Freedom of Choice, Rights Sen, A. (1970). The impossibility of a Paretian liberal. The journal of political economy, 152-157. Gaertner, W., Pattanaik, P. K., & Suzumura, K. (1992). Individual rights revisited. Economica, 161-177. Survey Articles: Dowding, K. & van Hees, M. (2009). Freedom of Choice. APP.
第17週	6/14	Paternalism Paternalism, Libertarian paternalism, Nudge Sunstein, C. R., & Thaler, R. H. (2003). Libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron. The University of Chicago Law Review, 1159-1202. Mitchell, G. (2005). Libertarian paternalism is an oxymoron. Northwestern University Law Review, 99(3). Survey Articles: Dworkin, G. (2014) Paternalism, SEOP. Hausman, D. M., & Welch, B. (2010). Debate: To Nudge or Not to Nudge. Journal of Political Philosophy, 18(1), 123-136.