“The
good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it” (Tyson).
Science is objective: No one can reasonably dispute the conclusions reached by
the scientific method. Moreover, science is the study of the universe, and its
axioms therefore can be thought of as fundamental and absolute rules. Economics,
on the other hand, is a highly subjective subject, riddled with conjecture and
politics. For any given claim about economics, one can always find an economist
to back it up, which leads to endless dispute among policymakers about how best
to organize society. If only economics were as easy to objectively formulate as
the natural sciences; then the job of designing an efficient society would be
much simpler. Economics, which is concerned with the analysis of systems of
wealth transfer and distribution is formally described by Adam Smith in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations. Yet, there are disciplines in
the natural sciences that also pertain to the analysis of systems, most notably
thermodynamics and biology, with very strong analogies to economics, as
described by Wayne Saslow in “An Economic Analogy to Thermodynamics” and
Michael Macrakis in Scarcity’s Ways: The Origins of Capital. Although there
are some limits to these analogies, comparing economics to the natural sciences
allows meaningful insights to emerge that can be applied in designing economic
systems.
Your topic is really interesting, and something I've never considered before your mentioning of it. The way you've formatted the introduction makes it seem both easy to understand and interesting to read, which is a good way to start a paper since pulling the reader in is one of the most important parts of writing. I think one of the things you could consider including is an introduction to what points you will be highlighting in the rest of your essay. For example, how exactly do you compare economics to the natural sciences? Why is this beneficial?
ReplyDeleteI was always really curious from the beginning when you mentioned in your presentation that you were going to relate economics and thermodynamics... But I like it, it is novel and also your passion for this topic really shines through your introduction.
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