#133 Don Ross: Naturalism, Philosophy of Economics, and Addiction
Dr. Don Ross is Head of the School of Sociology, Philosophy, Criminology, Government, and Politics at University College Cork, Ireland; Professor of Economics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa; and Program Director for Methodology at the Center for Economic Analysis of Risk at Georgia State University, USA. His research focuses on the foundations of economic theory, the experimental economics of addiction, risk, and time preference, philosophy of science, and infrastructure, trade and industry policy in Africa. He’s also the author of books like Economic Theory and Cognitive Science: Microexplanation; The Picoeconomics and Neuroeconomics of Disordered Gambling; and Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized and Philosophy of Economics.
In this episode, we first tackle the issue of the epistemological value of naturalism and the scientific method, and the role of philosophy in the modern world. Then, we talk about economics; the economic agent; rationality; the interplay between economics, psychology, and sociology; picoeconomics; and the neuroeconomics and picoeconomics of addictive behavior. We finish off by talking about how models of reality are always incomplete and limited, and about the conflict between reductionism and emergentism.
Time Links:
The epistemology of naturalism and science
The role of philosophy in a scientific world
How economics works
Different levels of analysis
Rationality in economics
Economics, psychology, and sociology
Picoeconomics
Addiction, decision-making, economics, and clinical psychology
Addiction, neuroscience, and modern environments
The limitations of having to model reality
Reductionism, emergentism, and consilience
Follow Dr. Ross’ work!
Follow Dr. Ross’ work:
Faculty page (UCC): https://tinyurl.com/ycd2ragh
CEAR: https://tinyurl.com/y7ejh3hk
Books: https://tinyurl.com/y7suze5r