real-world economics review, issue no. 101 subscribe for free
How power shapes our thoughts Asad Zaman [Pakistan Institute of Development Economics] Copyright: Asad Zaman, 2022
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Abstract: It is widely believed that human knowledge represents valuable information about the world we live in. Historical studies of Michel Foucault led to the striking conclusion that human knowledge cannot be separated from the power configurations governing society. In this paper, we study how economic theories are shaped by socio-political power.
1. Introduction Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of . , , . , . . specifications of the proposed dam, relevant water flow data, and energy prices. If these technical , . data on water flows, energy generation capacities, and prices of electricity leads to figures like 1 billion or 6 billion, then the sentence would be considered false, and we would not add it to our knowledge base. The following questions may be interesting, but they are not relevant to the evaluation of whether or not this sentence represents knowledge: 1. Who made this claim about the dam? What was the audience? 2. In what context did this conversation take place? Why was it said? 3. What will be the consequences to Pakistan, and to the speaker, if the sentence is accepted as true? Post-modern philosophers dispute this idea of knowledge. Many earlier philosophers have noted the relationship between theories propounded and the interests of the proposer. For instance, Karl Marx argued that different classes adopt different economic theories which align with their economic interests. Among modern philosophers, Michel Foucault (1980) took this idea to a radical extreme. He argues that modern human sciences (biological, psychological, social) purport to offer universal scientific truths about human nature that are, in fact, often mere expressions of ethical and political commitments of a particular society. On deeper analysis, what passes for knowledge, and is stated as a universal scientific truth, is actually a defense of existing power configurations. On initial encounter, this is a startling claim. Our goal in this article is to make it more plausible by studying some examples
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