List of illustrations ......................................... xvi
Foreword ..................................................... xvii
Acknowledgments ............................................... xxi
1 Introduction: why economics should go "full spectrum" ........ 1
What is a "full spectrum?" ................................... 2
A personal journey ........................................... 5
Moving out of our "deep sleep" mode .......................... 9
A new articulation .......................................... 11
What lies ahead ............................................. 12
PART I
The broadness of knowledge ..................................... 17
2 The structure of economic knowledge ......................... 19
What is economics? .......................................... 19
Paradigms are inevitable .................................... 21
First-person perspectives are inevitable .................... 24
3 An Integral approach: the four quadrants of reality ......... 28
A first look at the Integral approach ....................... 29
Exteriors: "the world of the terribly obvious " ............. 35
Interiors: consciousness and "the miracle called 'We'" ...... 38
Evolutionary and developmental dynamics ..................... 40
PART II
Neoclassical reductionism
4 Individualism, instrumentalism, and equilibrium
Neoclassical economics as a paradigm ........................ 45
A twofold reductionism ...................................... 53
Can we live without rationality and equilibrium? ............ 59
Can the neoclassical paradigm be falsified? ................. 63
5 The political philosophy of macro-management ................ 66
The knowledge interests underlying neoclassical economics ... 66
The issue of macro-management ............................... 76
Could you live in a neoclassical world? ..................... 86
PART III
Post-neoclassical reductionism ................................. 91
6 Game theory and strategic interaction ....................... 93
Strategic rationality: a way out of reductionism? ........... 94
Nash equilibrium as "society's DNA" ........................ 102
The politics of noncooperative game theory ................. 110
7 Complexity economics and "out-of-equilibrium" systems ...... 116
The fundamental flaws of game theory ....................... 116
From contemplative to adaptive rationality ................. 119
Elements of complexity economics ........................... 126
Has true interactivity really been achieved? ............... 137
8 Behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, and the
experimental approach ...................................... 141
A new paradigm ............................................. 141
Behavioral economics: the return of the "recognizably
human" ..................................................... 142
Neuroeconomics: scanning brains and solving problems ....... 151
Experimental economics: the lab is the answer .............. 156
PART IV
Beyond reductionism: the quest for Full-Spectrum Economics .... 163
9 Mainstream economics: a full-spectrum critique ............. 165
Behaviorism and the illusion of affectivity ................ 165
Systems theory and the illusion of culture ................. 173
Douglass North's institutionalism: embracing the full
spectrum? .................................................. 179
10 Full-Spectrum Economics: a first perspective ............... 185
Creating an economics of interiors? ........................ 185
Is our economic world a subjectless process? ............... 186
The reality-reinforcing power of post-neoclassical
economics .................................................. 189
Toward Full-Spectrum Economics ............................. 193
11 Paradigms, quadrants, and levels: the toolbox of
Full-Spectrum Economics .................................... 195
The three-level structure of paradigms ..................... 195
Horizontal interconnections ................................ 202
Vertical development and evolution ......................... 205
How does Full-Spectrum compare to post-neoclassical? ....... 214
Combining horizontal causalities and vertical dynamics ..... 216
The Integral field of reality .............................. 220
12 Full-Spectrum Economics .................................... 222
A meta-economics? .......................................... 222
A form of critical realism ................................. 224
Reductionism and the industrial bourgeoisie ................ 229
Eight methodologies ........................................ 233
The questions we (should) ask .............................. 236
Actualizing our hidden potentials .......................... 240
Integrating economics and spirituality ..................... 242
Toward a Full-Spectrum analysis of capitalism .............. 245
Notes ......................................................... 247
Bibliography .................................................. 253
Index ......................................................... 263
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