Introduction

This introduciton presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains the mathematical model of rationality used at the birth of the Marginalist Revolution, particularly that advocated by Walras. It also explains the implications of computable mathematics for the orthodox modelling of rationality. The book engages the thesis that computable mathematics, as is evident in Velupillai's computable economics, is a fruitful source for a mathematical model of bounded rationality matching the mathematical sophistication of orthodoxy. It addresses is the re-examination of the rationality of the Keynesian notion of convention in the context of radical uncertainty. The book argues that post-Keynesian scholars should add another key figure to the line from David Hume to David Lewis, namely Henri Poincare, the same mathematician to whom Walras wrote in connection with the mathematisation of economics. It identifies some of the principal tenets of Poincare's analysis of convention.