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Paul A. Samuelson: philosopher and theorist

Michael Szenberg (Department of Finance and Economics, Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York, New York, USA)
Aron A. Gottesman (Department of Finance and Economics, Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York, New York, USA)
Lall Ramrattan (Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley Extension, Berkeley, California, USA)

International Journal of Social Economics

ISSN: 0306-8293

Publication date: 1 April 2005

Abstract

Purpose

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To assess not how Samuelson's individual models contributed to human knowledge but the very true foundation on which they rest, namely, sound theory, facts, and philosophy.

Design/methodology/approach

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This article has placed Samuelson as a philosopher seeking the truth, and as a theoretical contributor to the many sub‐disciplines of economics.

Findings

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Shows that his truths bear the evidence of reality, and that his theoretical contributions are not different in kind from the logical theorists. Demonstrates how easily one could formulate a Samuelsonian impossibility theorem that places his thought on the level of the mathematical research started by Hilbert and concluded by Kurt Godel.

Originality/value

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The literature that has assessed his contributions in this regard is fragmented, and myopically sparse, leaving gaps to be filled in by a paper such as this.

Keywords

Citation

Szenberg, M., Gottesman, A.A. and Ramrattan, L. (2005), "Paul A. Samuelson: philosopher and theorist", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 325-338. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068290510587042

Download as .RIS

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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