On Economics and Language

Abstract

If I do not count the introductory essay by the editors, the book Economics and Language (Henderson, et al., 1993), can be divided into three substantive parts. The first is titled rhetoric and critical theory, the second, controversy and hedging in economics, and the third, language and the history of economic thought. Again not counting the introduction, the volume consists of a total of ten essays: four in the first part and three each in the remaining two. In Part I, the reader is introduced to a realist philosophy of economic rhetoric, to Ricoeur and the significance of the hermeneutic project for economics, to Bakhtin's dialogism in the formation of the canon, and to the relevance of Derrida and of deconstructive methods for rational choice theory. Part II is concerned with the “stylistics” of two sets of material: with the “debate” between Milton Friedman and his critics; and with 11 articles chosen from a recent issue of the Economic Journal. Finally, the three essays in Part III are devoted to Adam Smith, to Edgeworth and to the response of six elementary textbooks to a “puzzle” of economic theory.