Alternatives To Economics Book

List of Tables     vii
Acknowledgements     ix
Preface     xi
Christian Belief as Relevant to Modern Socio-Economic Life     1
Social Science's Disregard of Christian Thought     5
Objections Concerning the Primary Source of Christian Belief     8
Objections Concerning Fundamentalism     15
Judeo-Christian Sources of Socio-Economic Intentions     20
Christian Principles for the Organization of Employment     25
Catholic Social Thought     26
Protestant Evangelical Thought     31
Applying the Principles to Employment Organization     40
Making Work Ownership Effective     49
Biblical Exegesis-Based Principles for Economic Distribution     56
Deriving Normative Intentions for Economic Distribution     57
Economic Distributional Intentions of the Mosaic Law     64
Jesus' Teachings Relating to Distribution and the Intentions of the Law     76
James Barr on Jesus and the Law     84
Further Implications of Distributional Intentions of the Law     90
Christian Explanations for Unemployment     95
A Christian Explanation for Unemployment     97
Comparison of Orthodox Economics' and Christian Reasons forUnemployment     107
Conclusion     113
Socio-Economic Principles in Contemporary Christian and Islamic Thought     115
Normative Economic Principles in Contemporary Islamic and Judeo-Christian Thought     120
Economic Implications of Two Common Principles     127
Conclusion     132
A Christian Perspective on Economics     134
The Christian Worldview and Economic Questions     138
Human Life Has Inseparable Spiritual and Material Dimensions     140
God Has Normative Intentions for Human Spiritual and Material Life     144
Humankind Strives for Coherence in Understanding Personal and Social Behavior Through Modes of Interpretation Outside of God     147
Conclusion     151
Christians and the Autonomy of Economics     154
From Interdependence to Autonomy: J. David Richardson on Economics     157
From Interdependence to Autonomy: Richardson on Economic Implications of Christian Thought     163
The Autonomous Views of Anthony Waterman     169
Conclusion     175
Science and Contemporary Economics     178
Background to the Traditional View of Science     179
Anti-Positivism     182
Anti-Positivism and the Physical Sciences      183
Anti-Positivism and the Social Sciences     191
In What Sense is Economics Regarded as Science?     196
Conclusion     206
Naturalism and Contemporary Economics     210
Naturalism     211
Naturalism in Social Science     216
Non-naturalism in Social Science     219
The Reflection of Non-Naturalism and Naturalism in Contemporary Economics     224
Conclusion     234
Causal Explanation and Laws in Naturalistic Social Science     237
The Identification and Behaviour of Social Kinds     239
Causal Explanation and Mechanisms     245
Domain Restrictions and Mechanisms     247
Openness and Mechanisms     249
An Example of a Social Science Law     253
Conclusion     256
The Status of Economics as a Naturalistic Social Science     259
The Weak Stance on Naturalism     261
Assessing the Claims of Competing Theories in Economics     263
Assessing the Claims of Any one Theory in Social Science and Economics     267
The Innovative Value of Predictive Claims of Naturalistic Economic Theory     270
Policy Implications From (Naturalistic?) Economic Theory     274
Conclusion      278
Intellectual Progress and Academic Economics     280
The Meaning of Intellectual Progress in Social Science and Economics     281
Mainstream Economic Theory and Attributes of Intellectual Progress     287
Examples From Rational Choice Theory     287
Examples From Game Theory     291
Rational Choice and Game Theory Use Outside Academic Economics     296
Conclusion     298
A Christian Response to Naturalistic Social Science     301
A Christian Response to Naturalistic Social Science     303
Christian Belief and the Development of Physical and Social Science     309
Worldviews and Metaphysical Frameworks in Physical and Social Science     313
The Normative Purpose of Christian Socio-Economic Analysis     318
Conclusion     325
The Methodology of Christian Socio-Economic Analysis     328
The Christian Worldview as an Alternative Organizing Framework     334
The Methodology of Christian Socio-Economic Analysis     342
Holism and Circular Causation in Christian Socio-Economic Analysis     345
Christian Methodological Connections With Holism     347
Further Methodological Features of Christian Socio-Economic Analysis     352
Conclusion      358
Bibliography     361
Index     403
About the Authors     415