Les positions épistemologiques de Léon Dupriez

The main aspects of the epistemological positions of Leon Dupriez can be defined by reference to three themes which represent his basic options: (1) epistemological concern, leading to the adoption of a realist position, (2) philosophical character of that position, manifesting itself in priority by the adoption of a theory of acts as philosophical basis of economics, and (3) primordial role of the concept of telos as principle of intelligibility of the economic phenomena, connected with the idea of general equilibrium. The paper discusses mainly the status and the role of the idea of finality and of the idea of equilibrium, such as they are used by Leon Dupriez, and raises the question of the legitimacy and of the explanatory value of a theory which has recourse to a causality of a finalist type.