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Models and Measurements

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Philosophy of the Economy

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Philosophy ((BRIEFSPHILOSOPH))

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Abstract

Two key economic tools, models and measurements, are analyzed from a philosophical point of view, stressing their realism. Models should portray real causal relations, while it should be noted that measurements entail a simplification of reality, surveying quantitative dimensions and trying to quantify strictly qualitative dimensions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    They might be added to the ordinary language words expressing causal concepts listed by Elizabeth Anscombe (1971, p. 93).

  2. 2.

    On this topic, see Crespo (2008).

  3. 3.

    Cf. also Thomas Aquinas (1948), Summa Theologiae, Pars I, q. 110, a. 2 c.

  4. 4.

    See also Elizabeth Anderson (1993, 3.1).

  5. 5.

    In Crespo (2013, pp. 64–68), I explain how these scales relate to Aristotle’s thinking.

  6. 6.

    For example, if comfort was given more weight, car 3 would win the title.

  7. 7.

    Cf. Marcel Boumans (2001, p. 326) and Mary Morgan (2001, p. 240).

  8. 8.

    She explains (2001, p. 240), “Index number formulae conceived as measuring instruments are based on the strategy of aggregating in a way that allows each individual element to be assigned its due weight in the whole. Such a ‘weighted average’ strategy provides a solution to a general problem in economics, namely that many concepts refer to aggregates of things which may be considered homogeneous in the dimension of prices or money value, but are non homogeneous in another dimension, namely amounts consumed or produced”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Mendoza, Argentina

    Ricardo F. Crespo

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Crespo, R.F. (2013). Models and Measurements. In: Philosophy of the Economy. SpringerBriefs in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02648-0_6

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