PPE for Embodied Creatures on a Finite Planet

Colleagues Cyril Hédoin and Pablo Paniagua are running a symposium on “PPE” (philosophy, politics, and economics) over there. They follow James Buchanan’s classic question, from 1964, of “What should economists do?” Given that Crooked Timber is, arguably, situated at least in part in this field, I thought I’d repost my response to their introductory essay here, with their permission. ——— PPE for Embodied Creatures on a Finite Planet There is much to applaud in Hedoin and Paniagua’s views on what PPE scholars should do. I appreciate their emphasis on an integrated, methodologically reflexive approach that embraces methodological pluralism and is committed to studying political and economic institutions both empirically and normatively. I agree that the classical political-economy tradition can offer a lot of inspiration, and that the question of “what ethical, political, and economic foundations can sustain a peaceful, free, pluralistic, and prosperous social order?” should be at the…