Individualism and Institutionalism Revisited: A Response to Professor Bush |
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| Authors: | David W Seckler |
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| Institution: | David W. Seckler, Ph.D., is project specialist in resource management and economics, the Ford Foundation, on assignment from the department of economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo. 80523;his current address is the Ford Foundation (India Office), 320 East 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10017 |
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| Abstract: | A bstract . In the book which provoked individualist/institutionalist controversy in several journals, including this one, the author emphasized aspects of "muddled" thinking in the work of Clarence E. Ayres which he believes has brought forth neo-institutionalist contributions that are a "hodge-podge." Neo-institutionalism, he is convinced, is a form of historicism in Karl R. Popper's terms. Lord Robbins is quoted to prove that individualists do not necessarily espouse laissez-faire capitalism and extreme income inequality. F. A. Hayek is a conservative but some individualists are socialists. The distinction on which individualists base interpersonal comparisons of utility is not between normative and positive but between science and philosophy; Thorstein Veblen never attempted to build a bridge between science and value. The real issue between individualists and neo-institutionalists is individualism vs. collectivism. |
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