Greetings Economists, Michael Hoover sent us an account in a recent "New Statesman" of the "Post Autistic Economics" reaction in France against the emphasis on mathematics in economic theory. While I share the skepticism toward the use of mathematics in capitalist economics, the label Post Autistic Economics is anti disabled. I think it worthwhile then to consider what is the problem with mathematics in economic theory from the point of view of why this label is anti disabled.
For example in the press account they (the New Statesman) write, "The phrase "post-autistic" has a touch of Gallic cruelty about it " Doyle So the New Statesman as much as admits that some prejudice motivates the labeling of an economics that is problem with a disability. Being aware of the problem does not mitigate the common reaction that a metaphor is highly useful way of conveying information. So is the label accurate? The New Statesman article writes, "autistic" is intended to imply an obsessive preoccupation with numbers " Doyle, This is the critical point of error. Autism is being conflated with obsession. Is that a truth? Let's just take some online sources to understand what I am getting at. http://www.certec.lth.se/english/autism/kunskap_e.html from a history of Autism, "For a very long time, autism and psychosis continued to be confused and to this day parents are accused of causing the serious disabilities their autistic children have." Doyle I will paste below the short summary history I quote in part above so that a general outline of Autism is present on the Pen-L list. But the quote above is adequate to get my point across. An autistic is not an obsessive. The claim that autism is a metaphorical description of mathematics in economics conveys an accurate account of the issue of what goes wrong with economics so described as 'autistic' is to an informed person about prejudice against disabled people not a good metaphor. If one were to pursue looking at Autism more deeply, then one would encounter some important theories about what Autism is. The most important theory in use to understand Autism in regard to what the French react to in Capitalist Economics is called "Joint Attention" theory (see reference below pasted in). A more informative way of describing the faultiness of the metaphor of Autism is that the problem is a deficit of a language like usage of mathematics in economics. That seems to me to be of highly important relevance to the use of Mathematics in Economics. There are considerable fields of research in linguistics that both consider mathematics in human language and cognition and as applied to communications tools. So we have the tools to approach the problem with significant insight without resort to metaphors that are bigoted and prejudiced. To characterize economics that uses mathematics in "Joint Attention" terms is to focus upon how information is shared and understood. The French are obviously worked up by the use of statistics to form policy which is incapable of listening to the results. An arbitrary ordering of society through numbers that defy human experience. None of this sort of understanding needs to be about labeling capitalist economists as about disabled people parallels associations etc., and that is why this is a problem. In particular this does point at understanding how to communicate and areas in science that might yield insight and social reform or in my view give the working class new tools to fight with. thanks, Doyle Saylor http://www.certec.lth.se/english/autism/kunskap_e.html The History of Autism� � In 1908, Eugen Bleuler coined the word "autism" in schizophrenic patients who screened themselves off and were self-absorbed. � In 1943, the American child psychiatrist Leo Kanner described 11 children with the following common traits: impairments in social interaction, anguish for changes, good memory, belated echolalia,� over sensitivity to certain stimuli (especially sound), food problems, limitations in spontaneous activity, good intellectual potential, often coming from talented families. He called the children autistic. � In 1944, Hans Asperger, independent of Kanner, wrote about a group of children he called autistic psychopaths. In most aspects they resembled the children of Kanner's description. The difference was that he did not mention echolalia as a linguistic problem but that the children talked like little grown-ups. In addition he mentioned their motor activity which was more clumsy and different from normal children. � Bruno Bettelheim wrote about three therapy sessions with children in The Empty Fortress. He called them autistic and claimed that their disorder was due to the coldness of their mothers. He totally disengaged the parents from the children's therapy. The work of Asperger did not become known until the end of the 1980s when his book was translated into English. Kanner's and Bettelheim's work were quite often confused� and it was� generally accepted that autistic children had frigid mothers. In the 70s, knowledge of autism begun to spread to Sweden. The Erica Foundation started education and therapy for psychotic children in the beginning of the 80s. The first autistic classes within special education were started in the middle of the 70s. For a very long time, autism and psychosis continued to be confused and to this day parents are accused of causing the serious disabilities their autistic children have. Current theories about autism � Autism is a innate contact disorder Normally, infants early after birth orientate towards the human face and voice and respond to voices and facial expression. Autistic children cannot interpret another person's face and do not imitate as automatically. � This is the reason why later in life they are not able to share attention and experiences with others. Much experience is missed that way. Early learning is usually passed from person to person by imitation. The basis of socialization is contact and imitation. � Difficulty in seeing another person's perspective, in understanding the thoughts and intentions of others. There are researchers who believe the basic cause of this is a difficulty in shifting attention. The same attention-shifting difficulty would also lead to the ritualistic behaviors and the difficulties in managing change; difficulty in interrupting one activity and changing to another.� � Central coherence = does not automatically look for the meaning of what is going on. � Detailed vision. The world consists of isolated details and not a coherent inner map. � Processes information a piece at a time. Has difficulties with information consisting of several parts. � Has difficulties with void time when nothing happens as well as changing from one activity to another. Doyle Obsession long predates the concept of Autism, see quoted date from the dictonary, Date: 1680 source Merriam Webster online dictionary 1 : a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling; broadly : compelling motivation <an obsession with profits> Doyle For Joint Attention theory see online, http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/humanoid-robotics-group/cog/cog-publications/ springer-final-scaz.pdf.
