The meaning of economic philosophy

The meaning of economic philosophy In ‘The Open Society and its Enemies’, Karl Popper strongly defended the position that major interventions in the economy, especially when ideologically motivated, are usually disastrous and should therefore be avoided. Popper wrote his famous work towards the end of the thirties. On the one hand, he saw the devastating effects of textbook-based economies, where the working masses were tied into an economic strait-jacket by a Politburo, on the other hand, Popper was well aware of the dangers of that kind of capitalism, which tended to place the interests of a few monopolists above those of the general population. Against such aberrations, Popper propagated what he called 'social engineering', namely, a model of small steps, where every previous economic intervention is painstakingly scrutinized in view of its effects before any further action is embarked upon. Popper seemed to regard the economy in the same way as a highly complex machinery which a layman cannot tackle without causing the greatest damage. Poppers attitude was based on healthy skepticism. In the field of politics, society and economics our knowledge is limited. We constantly have to reckon with a multitude of factors whose influence on the totality of the events we can generally estimate only approximately. The future is therefore basically an open (that was the basic message Popper wanted to convey). Anyone who believes that it may be forced into a certain path with the aid of some panacea usually causes more harm than good. The same call for caution is found in a recent author, the historian Joachim Radkau. He has carved Popper's suggestions - without mentioning the Austrian philosopher – so to speak into stone by raising them to the status of ten commandments. A historian would in fact expose himself to ridicule with prophecies about the future. Will German democracy be replaced by plutocracy in ten years' time, or will it be closer to grassroots than it is today? Is dismantling of the welfare state to be expected in the coming years or will, on the contrary, current full employment enable it to be strengthened? Will Germany be ruled by leftist parties in the coming decades or will their rightwing opponents prevail? Serious science can not give a reliable answer to such questions. Economic Philosophy is much more fundamental - as philosophy always is. It is interested in the more basic question where all the little steps lead to? From her point of view, caution can only be considered a virtue if it does not barricade with a firewall the horizon of justified questions. With Popper, she agrees that the future is fundamentally undetermined, so that bold prophecies of the kind mentioned