The Complexity of Economies and Pluralism in Economics

Abstract

From the two premises that (1) economies are complex systems and (2) the accumulation of knowledge about reality is desirable, I derive the conclusion that pluralism with regard to economic research programs is a more viable position to hold than monism. To substantiate this claim I discuss an epistemological framework of how scholars study their objects of inquiry and relate their models to reality. Furthermore, I argue that given the current institutions of our scientific system, economics self-organizes towards a state of scientific unity. Since such a state is epistemologically inferior to a state of plurality, critical intervention is desirable.