Abstract
This paper investigates the ontology and epistemological justification behind investment benchmarks through the lens of a logical positivist paradigm. This is relevant because the field of finance is often critiqued by moral philosophers and has to justify itself as having a philosophical basis. It is introduced with a Greek δείκνυμι thought experiment on the social good of such benchmarks. This is done to draw the reader into a mindset that questions their epistemological underpinning. It asks what the nature of benchmarks is and answers this within the context of the broad academic finance tradition that is dominated by positivists, empiricists and a few critical realists.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 46-49 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | International Journal of Humanities and Social Science |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 1 Feb 2017 |
Keywords
- Philosophy
- Ontology
- logical positivist
- epistemology
- investment
- benchmark
- indexes
- finance