ABSTRACT
This chapter offers some general conclusions about economics as a discipline. It explains why political economy has struggled to maintain itself against the dominance of orthodox economics. The chapter focuses on an unduly neglected argument of Warren Samuels, who by drawing on the work of Robinson, Shackle and others, argues that there are three purposes of economics: scientific explanation, social control and psychological balm. The purpose of supplying scientific explanation is the most obvious aspect of economics. Radical political economists have also asserted a relationship between social order and knowledge, particularly with regard to social order and economic knowledge. Feminist economics, and in particular feminist philosophers of science, provide further contributions to the understanding of economics as psychological balm. The concept of equilibrium is example of psychological balm. Perhaps the best example of the economics profession's inability to follow Whitehead's dictum is general equilibrium theory.
