The Veblenian Critique and Critical Realism: A Comparison of Critical Theories of Mainstream Economics
The Veblenian critique of mainstream economics has something important in common with the critical realist critique. It is essentially an ontological critique. By this I mean that it inquires into the mainstream tradition's preconceptions about the nature of economic reality. Further, both theories of mainstream economics claim that such preconceptions revolve around a pseudo-reality which conflicts with some widely accepted feature of science. For Thorstein Veblen that feature of science is Darwinian evolution. For critical realism, it appears to be the activity of experimental science. The paper examines the similarities and dissimilarities of these two critical theories. It is organized as follows. The first section discusses the Veblenian critique. The second section reviews the critical realist critique. The third section explores the similarities and differences between the two. The final section offers concluding remarks.