A Metaphoric Study On Economics From The Perspective Of Philosophy Of Science

Given the nonconformity of prescriptive research program and the practical research on economics,the trend of pluralistic research on the methodology of economics came to emerge,in which the functions of economic metaphor such as interpretive attribute and explanation have been expounded.Therefore,on the basis of demonstrating the philosophical foundation of economic metaphor,the author attempts in this paper to investigate the rationality of economic metaphor practice combined with the predicament that economic research is faced with and introduce the analytical framework of contextualism in the demonstration which provides economic metaphor with strong perspectivity and interpretability in the ever-changing economic world.This paper consists of the introduction,the main body which includes five chapters,and the conclusion.In the introduction,the author investigates early research concerning methodology of economics in terms of its focuses,objectives,theoretical predicament through analyzing the reasons that led to the failure in positive research on economics and discusses the methodology of economics in the trend of diversified research.As the functional attribute of metaphor as well as its research value came to attract increasing interest among researchers,the author introduces the plan to investigate economic metaphor.The introduction includes the background and significance of this research,research status review,the main contents and ideas and the innovation,and in these parts the author introduces systematically the intention,objectives,the issues to be investigated and the significance of the research.The first chapter is “the trend of metaphor in the research on methodology of economics”.The author starts from two typical research directions such as rhetoric and critical realism in the pluralistic trend of the methodology of economics,formulates their philosophical stances,basic ideas and theoretical pursuit,summarizes and discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of the “three pursuits” during the development of methodology in economics.The author brings metaphor into the discussion of methodology of economics by means of the theoretical fruit of “pluralistic development”,particularly the fruit in economic metaphor,then demonstrates tentatively the interaction between economics and metaphor,the contribution metaphor might bring to economic research and the inevitability of metaphor intervention in the research of methodology of economics,etc.The second chapter is “as a metaphor for methodology of economics”.In this chapter,the author starts from the criticism that the pluralistic research of methodology of economics has launched on the prescriptive research program,investigates the reasons why methodology of economics needs metaphoric analysis and analyzes the working mechanism of metaphor in economics on the basis of the existing metaphoric research.Hence,the author demonstrates the feasibility and significance of metaphor serving as the methodology of economics.The third chapter is “the epistemological nature of economic metaphor”.In this chapter,the author starts from the uncertainty problem that haunts economic research and by resorting to the epistemological principles in economics,formulates the epistemological characteristics of metaphor as well as its advantages in solving the uncertainty problem.The author then discusses the epistemological functions and significance of metaphor in economic research.The fourth chapter is “the reality of economic metaphor”.In this chapter,the author starts from “the detachment of economic research and the real world” and demonstrates the special role economic metaphor plays in conceptualized unknown economic entities and mechanisms.By discussing the economic metaphor in terms of its reference,representation and the reality of its important carrier models,the author shows that economic metaphor is not only of methodological and epistemological value but deeply rooted in the reality.The fifth chapter is “the practical rationality of economic metaphor”.Along with the deepening of “pluralistic” research,the existing philosophical origins are no longer able to meet the needs of economics and economic philosophy research.As is shown in the earlier chapters,the economic metaphor is an academic system which has methodological,epistemological and realistic characteristics,then it has become a question we must answer,i.e.whether it can be applied to the practice in economic field,whether it is feasible and what is the philosophical foundation of this practical feasibility.Thus,the value and significance of economic metaphor practice are demonstrated from three dimensions,i.e.philosophy of language,hermeneutic and postmodernist philosophy.The conclusion is about the contextual trend of economic metaphor.The author first demonstrates the practical value of economic metaphor in the framework of context,due to the interpretive function of context and the availability of the practical value of economic metaphor as well as the renewal of economic metaphor and context,their inherent pursuit turns to the significance of application instead of the certainty of knowledge.Moreover,the contextual research on metaphor has emerged as one of the trends of metaphoric socialization.Metaphor is inseparable from contextual interpretation in terms of its description,the establishment of metaphoric knowledge and the attainment of its meaning,and thus the author puts emphasis on the contextual research trend and significance of economic metaphor in the conclusion.