Premises and promises of theory formation in economics
pp. 213-225
in: , After cognitivism, Berlin, Springer, 2009Abstract
The economic system of western societies (as the result of the so called "globalization" in fact nearly the economic system of the whole world) is the result of historically grown thought patterns that emerged around a few very limited premises at the core. When we think about economic problems today, those premises are mostly unaware but they lead us astray and direct our thinking only in certain directions, which is what we got used to call "practical necessities". But those necessities are very unpractical indeed, because they constrain the set of our possible solutions, and, if seen from the right point of view, they"re not even necessities at all! We only need to learn how to change economic models and century old thought patterns that are so engraved on our minds (after all, we learn how to count money already in primary school), that those common believes are never questioned. "You can't spend more money, than you"ve got!" and similar sayings transform economy in our minds into a zero-sum game. But zero-sum games can only be won by one player – his opponent is doomed to loose, and, most of all, he is doomed to be an opponent right from the start. If we succeed in changing the mental engrams of economy in the global mind, only then will humanity prosper and flourish again.