Welcome to the Teaching of Philosophy to Economists Network (TOPTEN). This is a network dedicated to promoting a vibrant and inclusive community of scholars, educators, and researchers who share a passion for philosophy of economics and aim to make it more relevant in economics education.
Upcoming events
- Hybrid Conference in February/March 2026 addressing the particular challenges and special barriers to teaching philosophy of economics (or teaching philosophy to economists) and possible strategies available for addressing them. This is conjunction with a 2027 Special Issue of the Revue de Philosophie Économique / Review of Economic Philosophy. Please e-mail g.ianulardo at exeter.ac.uk to register your interest in this event.
Our vision
In recent years there have been increasing calls for a revision of the economics curriculum to address the most pressing and challenging issues facing society. This Network aims at bridging the gap between a flourishing body of scholarship in the philosophy of economics literature and an economics education in need of a deeper rethinking, as felt by both students and educators. We aim to provide practical pedagogical insights on how to structure courses in the philosophy of economics and how to link them to students’ economics backgrounds.
We believe that what is needed in a renewed pedagogical approach to teaching economics is a deeper philosophical investigation of the assumptions that ground economic discourse and analysis as it is taught to new generations of students. By philosophically examining the model of man implicitly assumed in economics, it is possible to question economic categories such as utility maximisation, happiness, rationality, modelling, causality, empirical analysis, wellbeing, and so on. Equipped with a critical and reflective mind, students will be able to approach in a different way some of the pressing issues that concern them, such as intergenerational and intragenerational justice, equity, ecological and environmental issues, the role, limits and scope of public policy, health care, etc. In other words, our aim is not to replace the above-mentioned methodologies, including the mainstream approach, with their merits and limitations, but to show that these methodologies would benefit from a critical analysis of the implicit assumptions that underpin their discourse.
Our mission is threefold: first, to advance and share research in the area of philosophy of economics; second, to provide educators with a useful forum for informal and useful guidance on teaching philosophy and economics; finally to let any participant share initiatives that promote philosophy in the domain of economics.
Although primarily focused on philosophy of economics, we aim to provide a platform for a fruitful exchange among all educators and researchers interested in the teaching of humanities in economics and business, since we are aware that some courses teach philosophy even though with different names.
At TOPTEN, we want to establish an inclusive environment that promotes dialogue and communication between scholars and educational researchers from all fields in economics and business interested in the philosophical dimension of economics. We are dedicated to establishing a positive and trustworthy atmosphere where participants can exchange resources, experiences, and insights. We invite you to become a member of our network, whether you want to help with educational research or are searching for advice on how to educate. Your experience and advice will be invaluable to us and all participants.
In our pedagogical approach, we share Kant’s pedagogical view that the student “should not learn thoughts but how to think; one should not carry, but lead him if one wants him to be able to walk by himself in the future”. At the same time, we share Aristotle’s view expressed in his Protrepticus (Invitation to Philosophy) that doing philosophy is inescapable in any field of science, including economics. Indeed, the Stagirite said to his student Themison: "If you should do philosophy, you should do philosophy, and if you should not do philosophy, you should do philosophy [...] [since] by investigating we would be doing philosophy". Thus, the alternative is not between philosophising and not philosophising, but between the critical examination of given assumptions and their dogmatic acceptance. This Network is addressed to all those researchers, teachers and students of economics who wish to reflect critically on the challenges of the present in order to find a different way into the future.
Becoming part of TOPTEN
- Everyone is welcome! Registration is free.
- Will keep you up-to-date with the latest research updates and innovative ideas to enhance the teaching of philosophy in economics education.
- Will alert you to upcoming events and opportunities.
- Will allow you to post your contributions, publications and initiatives and share your experience in teaching philosophy of economics
- Will make you an active member of an international community aiming at promoting and spreading our common passion for the teaching of philosophy to economists.
Please e-mail g.ianulardo at exeter.ac.uk to join our mailing list.
Past activities
We have organised:
- Workshop on “Can philosophy of economics reshape economics education?”, 19 September 2025 at the INEM Conference (thanks to a grant received from INEM).
- Elgar Handbook of Teaching Philosophy to Economists, Edward Elgar, 2025.
- Online Workshop on Teaching Philosophy to Economists: Aims, Methods and Perspectives, 27-28 May 2024.
Executive committee
TOPTEN is supported by a dedicated executive committee of academics and practitioners with expertise in both philosophy and economics education. Feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions and/or if you want to join us and contribute to it.
Giancarlo Ianulardo: Chair of the committee
g.ianulardo at exeter.ac.uk
University of Exeter Business School
Giancarlo Ianulardo obtained his MSc in Economics and Finance and his PhD in Economics at the University of Warwick (UK). He is currently Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Exeter (UK), where he has been teaching Philosophy of Economics for many years and, more recently, Ethics and Economics. He has published in various international reviews such as Philosophia, Philosophy of Management, Philosophical Investigation, Business Strategy & the Environment, Journal of Philosophical Economics and peer-reviewed Handbooks. His most recent book is The Principle as Ground, Non-contradiction and Aristotle (with A. Stella), published with Palgrave. His research interests are on the philosophy and methodology of social sciences, in particular, the concept of relation in economics, rationality, methodological individualism and holism.
John Davis
john.davis at marquette.edu
John B. Davis, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Marquette University, USA and Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is author of Keynes’s Philosophical Development, The Theory of the Individual in Economics, Individuals and Identity in Economics, co-author with Marcel Boumans of Economic Methodology: Understanding Economics as a Science, and co-author with Robert McMaster of Health Care Economics. His most recent book is Identity, Capabilities, and Changing Economics published by Cambridge University Press.
Ricardo Crespo
Rcrespo at iae.edu.ar
↑ TopRicardo F. Crespo is Professor of Philosophy of Economics at IAE, Universidad Austral, and Researcher at the Argentine Council of Scientific Research. He is a graduate in economics and philosophy and earned a PhD in Philosophy (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo) and another in Economics (University of Amsterdam). He has extensively published articles and chapter books on his research topics. Recent publications of him include articles in Synthese, the Journal of Institutional Economics, Foundations of Science, Cambridge Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Applied Economics. His last book is The Nature of the Economy – Aristotelian Essays on the Philosophy and Epistemology of Economics (Palgrave-MacMillan 2022). His current research interests include explanation in the social sciences, economic rationality, and ethics in economics.
