Adam's fallacy : a guide to economic theology / Duncan K. Foley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Foley, Duncan K.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Smith, Adam, 1723-1790. Inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations.

Smith, Adam.

Economics--Philosophy.

Economics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 265 p. ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. ; London : Harvard University Press, 2006.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book could be called "The Intelligent Person's Guide to Economics." The title expresses Duncan Foley's belief that economics at its most abstract and interesting level is a speculative philosophical discourse, not a deductive or inductive science. Adam's fallacy is the attempt to separate the economic sphere of life, in which the pursuit of self-interest is led by the invisible hand of the market to a socially beneficial outcome, from the rest of social life, in which the pursuit of self-interest is morally problematic and has to be weighed against other ends.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

Contents

Preface

1. Adam's Vision

2. Gloomy Science

3 . The Severest Critic

4.On the Margins

6. Grand Illusions

Reading Further

Appendix

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674263529

0674263529

9780674027077

0674027078

OCLC:

1049618695