This paper outlines the assumptions on the nature of financial markets and investments that condition the mainstream theory of finance. Explanatory problems of financial economics are associated with the assumptions on financial reality andthe respective method of inquiry, one routed in the practices of (some branches of) natural sciences. In an alternative conception of finance, financial mark…

This book is about personal names, something of abiding interest to specialists and lay readers alike. Over a million people have checked the American Name Society website since 1996, for instance. Many philosophers and linguists suggest that names are 'just' labels, but parents internationally are determined to get their children's names 'right'. Personal names may be given, lost, traded, stol…