Browsing by Author "Martins, Nuno O."
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- Adam Smith on power and maritime tradePublication . Martins, Nuno O.Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is often interpreted as an explanation of the self-regulating nature of the market system, where an "invisible hand" leads to a harmonious coordination of different economic agents' pursuit of self-interest, so that economic development is brought about naturally through the division of labor. However, a closer reading of Smith's contribution shows that he saw the expansion of the market as a process typically driven by military and political power. For Smith, cases of a natural and spontaneous growth of industry occur only due to exceptional circumstances.
- Can neuroscience inform economics? Rationality, emotions and preference formationPublication . Martins, Nuno O.The interaction between neuroscience and economics has gained much prominence recently, leading to the emergence of the new and expanding field of neuroeconomics. I will argue that, although there is much insight to be gained from the interaction between neuroscience and economics, the implications of recent developments in neuroscience and neuroeconomics for the deductivist methodology of mainstream economics, and its emphasis on prediction of events, have not been sufficiently addressed. In fact, much research on neuroeconomics has contributed to the formulation of deductivist models aimed at the prediction of events, when the more fruitful use of neuroscience in economics consists rather in the utilisation of its insights for the development of an explanation of social behaviour that moves beyond the mainstream deductivist methodology. The somatic marker hypothesis, developed by Damasio and others working closely with him, will be suggested as an alternative framework for conceptualising the emergence of social behaviour from a neurobiological substrate.
- Capabilities as causal powersPublication . Martins, Nuno O.The author argues that Sen's capability approach is primarily a philosophical under-labouring exercise aimed at elaborating certain central economic categories, and that the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of Sen's approach are radically different from those of contemporary welfare economics and mainstream economic practice. Sen's notion of ‘capabilities’ as the potential functionings to achieve well-being is interpreted here as a specification of the ontological category of ‘causal power’, presupposing an open system conception of reality that contrasts with much of contemporary economic practice.
- Classical surplus theory and heterodox economicsPublication . Martins, Nuno O.It has recently been suggested that heterodox economics can benefit from an engagement with classical surplus theory. However, caution is often recommended due to the ideological concepts that are embedded in classical political economy. This article argues that many of the ideological concepts that are often attributed to classical political economy are actually not part of classical political economy, but rather of a “vulgar” form of political economy, a project that emerged after Ricardo. This vulgar project, often termed as “Ricardian economics,” is often mistakenly taken to be a development of classical political economy, but it is actually a rupture with the classical political economy of Petty, Smith, and Ricardo, as Marx, and later Sraffa, argued. Once this is acknowledged, the relationship between classical political economy and heterodox economics becomes clearer.
- The ethics of freedom: on the moral foundations of economic analysisPublication . Martins, Nuno O.A filosofia utilitarista subjacente à escola neoclássica de economia tem sido amplamente criticada por Amartya Sen, facto esse que, segundo o autor do presente artigo, nos pode sugerir o desenvolvimento de uma teoria económica baseada numa concepção ampla de liberdade. Para Sen, com efeito, o conceito de liberdade comporta duas dimensões bem explícitas, uma relacionada com as oportunidades proporcionadas pela liberdade, e a outra relacionada com os aspectos processuais da mesma. No que se refere à primeira dimensão, o artigo sublinha sobretudo o facto de a liberdade proporcionar a possibilidade de realizar determinados objectivos, numa perspectiva consequencialista. Por outro lado, a dimensão processual da liberdade evidencia a importância dos direitos e dos procedimentos, pelo que o artigo mostra igualmente até que ponto Sen se encontra também em linha com as éticas de cariz deontológico. Dado, porém, que as abordagens consequencialista e deontológica tendem a ser consideradas incompatíveis, o artigo não pode deixar de levantar a questão relativa à coerência da concepção ética do próprio Amartya Sen. No final de contas, a intenção do artigo é precisamente demonstrar que estas duas abordagens (consequencialista e deontológica) não são necessariamente incompatíveis entre si, pelo que o autor procura no conceito de incerteza o elemento necessário a uma correcta com-preensão da relação que existe, nomeadamente no campo da economia, entre esses dois tipos de abordagem ética. Finalmente, no sentido de evidenciar a coerência da concepção de agente económico defendida por Sen, o artigo recorre também, entre outros, seja ao conceito "sentimento moral" desenvolvido por Adam Smith, seja à noção Kantiana de "imperativo moral".
- Ethics, ontology and capabilitiesPublication . Martins, Nuno O.Amartya Sen's capability approach is concerned with the evaluation of inequality, and in particular with the description of the space in which equality should be assessed (the space of capabilities, or potential functionings). I will argue that Sen's approach is a philosophical exercise aimed at providing the ground for substantive theorising to proceed, that it does not itself engage in substantive theorising, and that it is mainly concerned with ontological description. Sen uses the categories of capabilities and respectively functionings to describe advantage and well-being. This ontological description can then be used for ethical theorising. But, as will be argued, the main emphasis of Sen's approach has been on the former, not on the latter. I will also argue that ontological realism is essential to Sen's approach, and that much of the persuasiveness of Sen's arguments spring from this (not explicitly acknowledged) ontological dimension. Furthermore, I will argue that an explicit recognition of this dimension is crucial for the development of Sen's perspective.
- A ética kantiana e o espírito do cristianismoPublication . Martins, Nuno O.O presente trabalho procura fazer uma análise do pensamento ético de Immanuel Kant, e relacionar a moral kantiana com o conceito de pessoa do Cristianismo, tendo em conta a interpretação cristã de conceitos como matéria, forma e espírito. Será argumentado que a noção de "espírito" do Cristianismo se enquadra numa visão integral da pessoa humana, e não implica uma separação entre matéria e espírito, separação essa que se encontra presente implicitamente na moral kantiana. Será argumentado que uma visão cristã do pensamento kantiano permite obter uma visão diferente acerca da possibilidade do que Kant designa por santidade da vontade. Antes de começar a tratar as questões éticas que Kant aborda, vai-se procurar, na medida do possível, fazer uma breve introdução ao sistema kantiano, que constitui a base dos principais conceitos usados por Kant nas suas reflexões éticas. É indispensável, tendo em conta as questões que se pretende focar, ter esta perspectiva da origem dos conceitos utilizados e da globalidade do contexto onde se enquadram. É igualmente importante notar que será tratada a fase de Kant geralmente denominada por período crítico. (Introdução)
- Ética, economia e sustentabilidadePublication . Martins, Nuno O.A crise económica e social actual levanta questões importantes acerca da sustentabilidade do sistema sócio-económico contemporâneo. Será argumentado aqui que, para responder à crise actual, torna-se necessário abordar duas questões éticas, designadas por Amartya Sen como a questão "Socrática", que se prende com a componente motivacional do agir humano (e o comportamento dos agentes económicos), e a questão "Aristotélica", que se relaciona com o bem comum (e tem implicações ao nível do impacto da distribuição na sustentabilidade social e económica). A crise actual resulta em larga medida de uma incapacidade da teoria económica ortodoxa para analisar estas duas questões, que sendo fundamentais para autores clássicos desde Adam Smith a Karl Marx, foram todavia marginalizadas dentro da teoria económica ortodoxa.
- An Evolutionary Approach to Emergence and Social CausationPublication . Martins, Nuno O.Rom Harré criticizes critical realism for ascribing causal powers to social structures, arguing that it is human individuals, and not social structures, that possess causal powers, and that a false conception of structural causation undermines the emancipatory potential of critical realism. I argue that an interpretation of the category of process as the spatio-temporalization of the category of structure, which underpins much evolutionary theory, provides the conceptual tools to explain how the critical realist transformational model of social activity can escape from Harré's criticism, leading to a general conception of social development within which various types of evolutionary processes can be identified as particular cases. I then argue that Tony Lawson's PVRS model provides an evolutionary perspective that enables the conceptualization of coercive power as selective pressure.
- Globalisation, inequality and the economic crisisPublication . Martins, Nuno O.This article addresses the effects of inequality on the globalisation process. It is argued that the recent financial and economic crisis is a manifestation of a tendency of the aggregate demand to fall relatively to aggregate supply, generated by an asymmetric income distribution, which in turn both increases, and is reinforced by, the mobility of goods, capital and labour, in a process of cumulative causation. This process has not become manifest earlier due to counteracting tendencies generated by the financial system, that were disrupted during the crisis. It is also argued that mainstream economics does not have the adequate framework for explaining the crisis, and actually contributed to the crisis through its theories and policies. Hence an alternative economic framework is suggested for addressing the crisis, drawing upon the contributions of several heterodox economic traditions, especially post-Keynesianism.
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