Favereau on radical and pragmatic projects in Keynes' «General Theory»: A critical view

According to Favereau (1985), there are two distinct research projects in Keynes’ General theory, one ‘radical’, the other ‘pragmatic’. Keynes would have first elaborated the radical project, then the pragmatic one in favour of which he would have arbitrated. Moreover, Keynes’ intellectual evolution would be explained by the in- fluence of Wittgenstein. Diverences of interpretation of the General theory would then be explained by the existence of this two inconsistent projects in the General theory itself. The paper aims to analyse the relevance of Favereau’s argument, which was largely taken up, especially in France. First, the hypothesis of Wittgenstein’s influence on Keynes analysed, and second the relevance of the existence of two distinct and conflicting projects in the General theory.