Early neoliberalism drew on mathematical conventionalism, not naturalism or empiricism

Evidence

Since its inception, the problem space shared by neoliberals has been spread out on a modernist canvas, one which contrasted sharply with conservatives, reactionaries and old-fashioned liberals. During the inter-war period, self-proclaimed neoliberals dismantled and recoded the unpopular laissez-faire liberalism with epistemological ideas adapted from the “new scientific spirit” of the early twentieth century. Breaking with naturalism and empiricism, they espoused a research program inspired by mathematical and physical conventionalism, one that balanced a skeptical epistemology with a commitment to scientific progress and objectivity. To this end, methodological rules were pivotal to the reconstruction of a genuine science of liberalism which had fallen into disrepute. This agenda aimed at regaining the political ground lost to ‘collectivism’ in the twentieth century by tackling two sets of problems left aside by ‘classical’ liberals: the positive role of the state and the social question. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 52

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the epistemological foundations of early neoliberalism as conventionalism-inspired, a crucial definitional distinction for mapping intellectual varieties.
• XREF: Connects to Popper’s conventionalism and the Vienna Circle debates; also relevant to the reader’s map of realist-constructivist splits among neoliberal thinkers. — connects to: Early neoliberalism emerged partly from a critique of laissez-faire and naturalist philosophies of history — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 379; Neoliberal epistemology drew on Poincaré’s conventionalism to attack socialist rationalism — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 62; Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1907 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal epistemology drew on Poincaré’s conventionalism to attack socialist rationalism #corroborates (0.95) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 62
• Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1907