Natural Images in Economic Thought Markets Read in Tooth and Claw [Hardcover]

This 1994 book was the first collection devoted to impact of natural sciences on content and form of economics in history.This collection of interdisciplinary essays is the first to investigate how images in the history of the natural and physical sciences have shaped the history of economic thought. It documents the extent to which scholars have drawn from the physical and natural sciences.This collection of interdisciplinary essays is the first to investigate how images in the history of the natural and physical sciences have shaped the history of economic thought. It documents the extent to which scholars have drawn from the physical and natural sciences.This collection of interdisciplinary essays is the first to investigate how images in the history of the natural and physical sciences have been used to shape the history of economic thought. It documents the extent to which scholars have drawn on physical and natural science to ground economic ideas and evaluate the role and importance of metaphors in the structure and content of economic thought. These range from Aristotle's discussion of the division of labor, to Marshall's evocation of population biology, to Hayek's dependence upon evolutionary concepts, and more recently to neoclassical economists' invocation of chaos theory.List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Part I. The Natural and the Social: 1. Doing what comes naturally: four metanarratives on what metaphors are for Philip Mirowski; 2. So what's an economic metaphor? Arjo Klamer and Thomas C. Leonard; Part II. Physical Metaphors and Mathematical Formalization: 3. Newton and the social sciences, with special reference to economics, or, the case of the missing paradigm I. Bernard Cohen; 4. From virtual velocities to economic action: the very slow arrivals of linear programming and locational equilibrium Ivor Grattan-Guinness; 5. Qualitative dynamics in economics and fluid mechanics: a comparison of recent applications Randall Bausor; 6. Rigor and prl‹