Science-Market Analogies

Science-Market Analogies
Author: Michael Thicke
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

Many philosophers have made analogies between science and the market, or between scientists and entrepreneurs. These analogies are used to buttress claims about how science ought to be organized: that science ought to be administered or regulated, or that science must be autonomous. This dissertation examines and evaluates market analogies, and ways in which the changing organization of science reflects those analogies. In the first chapter I examine Michael Polanyi's dispute with John Desmond Bernal over whether science ought to be centrally controlled, and I argue that Polanyi's account of spontaneous order in science fails. In the second I compare Philip Kitcher's model of scientist-entrepreneurs with the general equilibrium model of Arrow and Debreu and conclude that Kitcher's model lacks crucial features of the latter. In the third chapter I examine Alan Walstad's Austrian account of science and argue that his analogy fails because citations fail to fulfill all of the important functions of money in the traditional economy. In the fourth chapter I evaluate science from the perspective of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and conclude that science is not epistemically efficient in the way that the EMH claims markets are, and then I examine ways in which science might be made more epistemically efficient through the use of prediction markets. In the final chapter I consider how, through commodification, science is becoming more like the market, and I show that this change in the organization of science allows for increased scientific collaboration, but also facilitates the commercialization of science and all of its associated dangers.

The Statistical Mechanics of Financial Markets

The Statistical Mechanics of Financial Markets
Author: Johannes Voit
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2005-10-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540262857

This highly praised introductory treatment describes the parallels between statistical physics and finance - both those established in the 100-year long interaction between these disciplines, as well as new research results on financial markets. The random-walk technique, well known in physics, is also the basic model in finance, upon which are built, for example, the Black-Scholes theory of option pricing and hedging, plus methods of portfolio optimization. Here the underlying assumptions are assessed critically. Using empirical financial data and analogies to physical models such as fluid flows, turbulence, or superdiffusion, the book develops a more accurate description of financial markets based on random walks. With this approach, novel methods for derivative pricing and risk management can be formulated. Computer simulations of interacting-agent models provide insight into the mechanisms underlying unconventional price dynamics. It is shown that stock exchange crashes can be modelled in ways analogous to phase transitions and earthquakes, and sometimes have even been predicted successfully. This third edition of The Statistical Mechanics of Financial Markets especially stands apart from other treatments because it offers new chapters containing a practitioner's treatment of two important current topics in banking: the basic notions and tools of risk management and capital requirements for financial institutions, including an overview of the new Basel II capital framework which may well set the risk management standards in scores of countries for years to come.

Metaphor and Analogy in Science Education

Metaphor and Analogy in Science Education
Author: Peter J. Aubusson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2006
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781402038297

This book brings together powerful ideas and new developments from internationally recognised scholars and classroom practitioners to provide theoretical and practical knowledge to inform progress in science education. This is achieved through a series of related chapters reporting research on analogy and metaphor in science education. Throughout the book, contributors not only highlight successful applications of analogies and metaphors, but also foreshadow exciting developments for research and practice. Themes include metaphor and analogy: best practice, as reasoning; for learning; applications in teacher development; in science education research; philosophical and theoretical foundations. Accordingly, the book is likely to appeal to a wide audience of science educators –classroom practitioners, student teachers, teacher educators and researchers.

Metaphor and Analogy in the Sciences

Metaphor and Analogy in the Sciences
Author: F. Hallyn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2013-03-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9401594422

This collection of papers contains historical case studies, systematic contributions of a general nature, and applications to specific sciences. The bibliographies of the contributions contain references to all central items from the traditions that are relevant today. While providing access to contemporary views on the issue, the papers illustrate the wide variety of functions of metaphors and analogies, as well as the many connections between the study of some of these functions and other subjects and disciplines.

Metaphors and Analogies in Sciences and Humanities

Metaphors and Analogies in Sciences and Humanities
Author: Shyam Wuppuluri
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 590
Release: 2022-05-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030906884

In this highly-interdisciplinary volume, we systematically study the role of metaphors and analogies in (mis)shaping our understanding of the world. Metaphors and Analogies occupy a prominent place in scientific discourses, as they do in literature, humanities and at the very level of our thinking itself. But when misused they can lead us astray, blinding our understanding inexorably. How can metaphors aid us in our understanding of the world? What role do they play in our scientific discourses and in humanities? How do they help us understand and skillfully deal with our complex socio-political scenarios? Where is the dividing line between their use and abuse? Join us as we explore some of these questions in this volume.

Surfaces and Essences

Surfaces and Essences
Author: Douglas Hofstadter
Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2013-04-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0465018475

Shows how analogy-making pervades human thought at all levels, influencing the choice of words and phrases in speech, providing guidance in unfamiliar situations, and giving rise to great acts of imagination.

Marketing Metaphors and Metamorphosis

Marketing Metaphors and Metamorphosis
Author: P. Kitchen
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2008-08-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0230227538

Metaphors are widely used within marketing literature, yet so far have remained unacknowledged. This book aims to redress that omission. Such widely known topics such as globalization of markets, viral marketing and many others are in fact metaphors; moreover, marketing itself may be a metaphor, underlying many exchanges and relationships.