78

This paper questions the expression “economic philosophy” as an association of opposed words that cannot be defined without referring to each other. Because of this intertwining of philosophy and economics, philosophical reason is as limited as economical reason and therefore unable to determine the place of the economy within the social totality. Therefore, the expression can only be understood as a double bind of restraint and combativeness. Restraint because the philosopher is unable to provide a foundation for the work of the economist, who is henceforth charged with looking for his own foundation. Combativeness because the work of the economist is always pre-contaminated by claims about the social totality and therefore subject to philosophical criticism. In order to express this double bind, it is better to use the expressions “philosophy and economics” or “philosophy of economics.”