Adama Smith Vs John Maynard Keynes

Finally! Economics that I can mentally grasp without the creation of a mind numbing migraine. However all of this doesn't help in understanding the credit crunch. The theories that are about to be discussed are either labelled as localised or national, by this I mean that the ones I have deemed localised do not seem to consider the nation as a whole, instead they seem more suitable for small populated areas, not necessarily urban, whereas the national are suitable to be adopted by all. Adam Smith it can be argued, who represented the classical economic branch, had some valid points such as economic success is determined by sun spots and trade, this makes sense as it infers production conditions and distribution play key roles, however this perspective seems like it is best suited locally, as individual areas conditions are only considered, and important factors like money are only considered tokens. This shows that only small scale things are considered, whereas John Maynard Keynes ideals seemed best suited nationally as it had principals that were not dictated by area, and could be controlled by all regardless of the poor or high trade channels in certain areas or high or low productivity. Keynes believed that money was good for the economy and that the market should not control the value of money; that its should be set by the government who effect it by spending money, thereby effecting interest rates.

Von Hyak on the other hand can be placed into another category it can be suggested that he falls into the more practical group, rather than the academic theorists, as his approach to economics was dominated by a form of area planning, for example if a road was to be built it would be considered how many people live in that area, therefore how many people may use it. This seems like a very good idea as it implies that economics should be interchangeable and adapt to suit all areas.

Upon researching this topic the names mentioned above seemed the architects of economics, however a name not mentioned in the lecture was Thomas Robert Malthus, who agreed with Keynes by claiming that in order to stimulate the economy and generate jobs money must be spent, if money is saved it will cause high unemployment. I just thought I would mention this as it seems like they are from similar schools of thought, and I felt the need to impart some wisdom before I finished this blog.

The Vienna Circle/ logical positivism

A lot of heavy concepts to grasp, especially after the Easter break, when most people have let their minds lapse into laziness. However one thing in particular interested me the most, which was the 'law of non contradiction', which is the law of logic which states that something cannot be and not be at the same time. Confusing stuff. Upon researching this concept I discovered some stuff not discussed in the lecture, which I think may be relevant, so I will disclose this to you now. There are another two laws closely associated with this: the law of bivalence, which says something is either true or false, whereas the law of the excluded middle is similar but states that if something isn't true then its opposite is, this law can also be logical or in semantic form. Three laws which seem very similar, however they dictate the form of an answer, I can see how this relates to journalism as it focuses on the validity of a statement, which is what journalism does, and what we as journalists have to do.
Aristotle's argument on this subject is interesting, however I disagree, he stated that if we did not consider the law of non contradiction that we would not be able to distinguish differences, but I find this to be a little condescending, as everything has some form of duality, white and dark, life and death, surely through natural observation this can be learnt, I think the law of non contradictions is more suited to a form of arguments or debate, not something as simple as distinguishing the difference between a metal table or a wooden one.

It is also important to note that this subject is closely associated with religion, which is what accompanied it in my numerous Internet searches on the subject.