John Maynard Keynes: Language and Method

by Alessandra Marzola (Editor), Francesco Silva (Editor)

This important new book presents an alternative reading of Keynes's economic and political discourse viewed from the joint perspective of literary scholars and economists. The aim is to provide a wholly unified view of Keynes's language and method tempered by sensitivity to the different contexts in which he wrote.
Challenging the rhetorical approach to economic methodology on its own grounds, the contributors to this volume consider the body of rhetorical devices to be the most interesting topic of methodological enquiry. As well as discussion of whether language in economics is inseparable from the object of analysis, the volume features specific contributions on Keynes's critique of classical theory, The General Theory, his work on organic interdependence and the approaches of both Keynes and McCloskey to rhetoric in economics. The volume as a whole presents converging views of Keynes's conduct both as an economic theorist and as a political commentator.
Offering a fresh and innovative range of interpretations, the contributors to this volume argue that, in Keynes's discourse, language and method should be considered as a unified whole. This book will be welcomed by economists with an interest in the history and methodology of economic thought as well as by literary scholars concerned with linguistics and the use of language in scientific discourse.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1994