The Space between Choice and Our Models of It: Practical Wisdom and Normative Economics

The author considers theoretical, philosophical and methodological aspects of normative approach in economic theory. The article discusses normative analysis and types of normative and positive elements in economic theory, basing upon difference between abstract and real objects of science. The specific traits of generations as subjects of economic and socio-political history are determined.

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4. Healing the Ethical Cleft: Phronesis and University Ethical Leadership

Philosophy and Theory in Higher Education ◽

10.3726/ptihe.2020.01.04 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 69-89

Author(s):

Hawken Brackett ◽

E. Douglas McKnight

Keyword(s):

Student Affairs ◽

Ethical Leadership ◽

Common Sense ◽

Leadership Practices ◽

Student Behavior ◽

Practical Wisdom ◽

The United States ◽

Individual Student ◽

Institutional Management ◽

Technical Rationality

<?page nr="69"?>Abstract A misalignment exists between the institutional management of individual student behavior and the stated ethical principles undergirding modern higher education practices in the United States, ultimately creating an ethical failure serving no one. We discuss this misalignment from the site of student affairs, due to its charge to represent both university and student. A technocratic ethical discourse creates the illusion of decision-making autonomy that promises certain outcomes if “common sense” leadership practices are employed. The lens of technical rationality homogenizes and reduces perceived problems to simple either/ors that fail to address the inequitable effects of such ethical logic. We counter “common sense” leadership with a notion of ethical leadership called phronetic leadership, which is informed by an Aristotelian understanding of phronesis (practical wisdom), virtue ethics, and a Foucauldian awareness of governmentality. We argue that phronetic leaders can mend the cleft crippling institutional ethical foundations and practices.

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Positive Versus Normative Economics: What Economists are Taught

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.1483262 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew Medina ◽

Catherine S. Elliott

Keyword(s):

Normative Economics

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The Inner Rational Agent

10.1093/oso/9780198825142.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Robert Sugden

Keyword(s):

Human Agency ◽

Welfare Economics ◽

Rational Agent ◽

Empirical Content ◽

Normative Economics ◽

Normative Analysis ◽

True Preference ◽

Implicit Model ◽

The World ◽

Psychological Foundation

Chapter 4 reviews ‘behavioural welfare economics’—the approach to normative analysis that is favoured by most behavioural economists. This approach assumes that people have context-independent ‘true’ or ‘latent’ preferences which, because of psychologically-induced errors, are not always revealed in actual choices. Behavioural welfare economics aims to reconstruct latent preferences by identifying and removing the effects of error on decisions, and to design policies to satisfy those preferences. Its implicit model of human agency is of an ‘inner rational agent’ that interacts with the world through an imperfect psychological ‘shell’. I argue that there is no satisfactory evidence to support this model, and no credible psychological foundation for it. Since the concept of true preference has no empirical content, the idea that such preferences can be reconstructed is a mirage. Normative economics needs to be more radical in giving up rationality assumptions.

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Proposed Sources of Practical Wisdom

Ethics ◽

10.1086/290627 ◽

1948 ◽

Vol 58 (4) ◽

pp. 262-274

Author(s):

Charner Perry

Keyword(s):

Practical Wisdom

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Practical wisdom: How do personal virtue beliefs and contextual factors interact in adolescents’ moral decision-making?

Journal of Moral Education ◽

10.1080/03057240.2021.1891871 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Claire Briggs ◽

David Lumsdon

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Practical Wisdom ◽

Contextual Factors ◽

Moral Decision ◽

Moral Decision Making ◽

Personal Virtue

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The Practical Wisdom Framework: A Compass for School Leaders

Journal of Education ◽

10.1177/00220574211028828 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002205742110288

Author(s):

Karen Elizabeth Bohlin

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Practical Wisdom ◽

School Leaders ◽

Educational Leaders ◽

Policy Compliance ◽

Special Cases

Educational leaders are required to respond in real time to questions, quandaries, and cases that involve individuals in different contexts. They face an array of possible choices that exist in tension. Justice and fairness must coexist with mercy and compassion; in enforcing policy, compliance must make room for flexibility in special cases. School leaders are called to adjudicate competing goods and teach others to do the same. This article examines what practical wisdom is, why it matters, and introduces a theoretically grounded Practical Wisdom Framework (PWF) to help school leaders deliberate well to create and sustain formative institutions.

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