Two minds: Intuition and analysis in the history of economic thought

Abstract

The "Two Minds" noted economist Roger Frantz explores in this landmark book are, first, the analytical mind and, second, the intuitive mind. In part one he presents the leading theories on intuition, discusses recent developments in cognitive science, and borrows from such non-economist intuitors as Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, Henri Poincare, Ludwig von Beethoven, and Robert Louis Stevenson to explore the role of intuition in science and creativity. In part two, Frantz considers the presumably analytic and logical nature of economics and then demonstrates the many ways in which economists from Adam Smith to Herbert Simon have relied on intuition as a fruitful mental activity. This book provides a rich complement and alternative perspective to some of the theoretical and mathematical models that have dominated the dismal science since the late 1940s. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. All rights reserved.