Search results for "American institutionalism"
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“A certain amount of ‘recantation’”: On the origins of Frank H. Knight’s antipositivism
2016
The aim of this paper is to investigate in some detail the origins of Knight’s antipositism and to assess the main influences that brought him to a change in methodological perspective after 1921. As importantly, what follows is also an attempt to increase our general understanding of the methodological debates taking place during the early decades of the last century and to shed new light on the inherently pluralistic character of US interwar economics. This paper is organized as follows: the first section outlines Knight’s methodological views as presented in his early works; the second section discusses Knight’s “recantation” and his attack on behavioristic social science; the third sect…
Frank H. Knight, pragmatism, and American institutionalism: A note
2009
This note deals with the debated question of whether, and to what extent, Frank Knight's epistemology was consistent with the general philosophy of American pragmatism. First, in accord with recent interpretations, I provide new evidence illustrating that Knight's views on science, knowledge and related philosophical topics present some important similarities with the pragmatic tradition. Second, I attempt to demonstrate that Knight's unsympathetic reading of Dewy and pragmatism was, to a relevant extent, a consequence of his aversion to the so-called scientific wing of American interwar institutionalism. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.