The Philosophy of Science and Economics

by Robert A. Solo

Overview

The philosophy of science proposes criteria to delineate true science and a theory to explain its progress. As a graduate student under the supervision of Lionel Robbins and Karl Popper, Solo first challenged the viability of those criteria and that theory in relation to economics and the social sciences. Here he explains how the foundations of that philosophy have been eroded through the advent of quantum mechanics and through Kuhn's "Structures of Scientific Revolution", and demonstrates its irrelevance to a social science that would comprehend social reality and contribute to the formation of social policy. He proposes a different mode of perception, and different rules for determining the acceptability of statement, a different language of discourse, and a different structure of organization than presently prevails.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780873328999
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/31/1991
Pages:	140
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert A Solo Emeritus Professor of Economics Michigan State University, East Lansing

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Confessions; Chapter 2 Popper's Progress; Chapter 3 Popper's Canon, Kuhn's Paradigm and Economics; Chapter 4 Social Science, Policy Science; Chapter 5 The Character of the Discourse; Chapter 6 General Theory: An Empirico-Judgmental Discourse; Chapter 7 The Mathematization of Empirico-Judgmental Discourse; Chapter 8 Normative Theory and Other Components of Political Economy;