ABSTRACT
Partly in response to the economists’ crisis that soon followed the economic crisis, “uncertainty” gained currency among leading professional journals. Uncertainty must instead be seen as the engine of the economy and, therefore, as a central part of the economic analysis and understanding of real economics. Since uncertainty affects human decision making, a formal definition of uncertainty should refer to the decision making process. The chapter suggests a definition that centres around the necessary deductions in the face of not-knowable knowledge. The case for uncertainty unveils that current mainstream economics’ ontology is a bad match for economic reality. Uncertainty in economics destroys a great many certainties in concurrent economics. It easily proves that mainstream ontology is ill-fitted for answering the most pressing questions about the course of the economy and the appropriate design of its institutions.
