A Panel on Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE)

This event will be hybrid via Zoom.

Abstract
In contemporary academia, political science, philosophy and economics are three clearly distinct disciplines with their own norms and identities. However, historically these three disciplines were closely integrated with each other, and studied jointly as “political economy”. Adam Smith and Karl Marx where both trained philosophers, who critiqued the institutions of their day from both political and economic perspectives. But during the last century these disciplines has become increasingly distinguished and specialized. Even if such specialization enables division of labor, it may also be problematic. Friedrich Hayek supposedly asserted that “Nobody can be a great economist who is only an economist – and I am even tempted to add that the economist who is only an economist is likely to become a nuisance if not a positive danger.” And similar critiques could be aimed against political scientists who are only political scientists, or political philosophers who merely generate normative ideals without concern for how people actually behave. This critique opens for a number of interesting questions and problems. How does the theoretical and normative perspective of philosophy relate to the more empirical and neutral perspectives of the social sciences? Why is it that these disciplines, which were historically integrated, is today increasingly separated? And how could we as researchers combine specialization with general understanding?

Speaker bios
Erik Angner, professor of philosophy at Stockholm University and the director of the university’s PPE program. He holds two PhDs, one in Economics and the other in History and Philosophy of Science, both from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of books such as How Economics Can Save the World (2023) and Hayek and Natural Law (2007).

Per Bylund, associate professor of entrepreneurship and Johnny D. Pope Chair in the School of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. With a special interest in the Austrian School of Economics, he competes with Knut Wicksell for the title as “the Swedish Austrian”, and is the recent editor to A Modern Guide to Austrian Economics (2022), and author of How to Think About the Economy (2022).

This event will be hybrid via Zoom.