Economics and the Philosophy of Science

This is a theoretical examination of the scientific assumptions underlying much of economic theory. Part I discusses the philosophy of science in general, including the work of Popper, Lakatos, Feyerabend, Bartley, Kuhn, Fleck, Polyani, Toulmin, and Hanson. Part II focuses on Popper, Lakatos, and Kuhn and their philosophies of economics. The author concludes that economists abuse methodology, especially paradigms that are used to demonstrate that a given school of thought is more scientific than another.