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Poetic Economics and Experiential Knowledge, or How the Economist K. William Kapp Was Inspired by the Poet Ernst Wiechert

Berger, Sebastian

Authors



Abstract

© 2015 Journal of Economics Issues/Association for Evolutionary Economics. In the first part of this article, I analyze the phenomenon of the "double truth" in economics, which suppresses experiential knowledge and leads to the destruction of the natural environment, community, and human civility. Subsequently, I explore the positive effects of opening economics to the creative, esthetic, and ethical potential of experiential knowledge, including works of art. In the second part of the article, I showcase the way the economist K. William Kapp was inspired by the renowned German novelist, poet, educator, intellectual, and concentration-camp survivor Ernst Wiechert. Wiechert was Kapps teacher in high school, the Hufgymnasium in Königsberg, during the Weimar Republic. I investigate the unpublished and unexplored Kapp-Wiechert correspondence, as well as analyze some (published and unpublished) foreign language essays written by Kapp and his wife Lore Kapp. This analysis reveals how Kapps economics drew lasting inspiration from Wiecherts art philosophy, pedagogy, novels, and poetry. This is a case study of a poetic economics that is open to experiential knowledge, which makes it more humane, edifying, serene, and sensitive to the natural and social environment.

Citation

Berger, S. (2015). Poetic Economics and Experiential Knowledge, or How the Economist K. William Kapp Was Inspired by the Poet Ernst Wiechert. Journal of Economic Issues, 49(3), 730-748. https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2015.1071979

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2015
Journal Journal of Economic Issues
Print ISSN 0021-3624
Electronic ISSN 1946-326X
Publisher Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 49
Issue 3
Pages 730-748
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2015.1071979
Keywords economics, K. William Kapp, Ernst Wiechert
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/828839
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2015.1071979