Economic Methodology Understanding Economics as a Science [Paperback]

Economic Methodology explores the status and character of economics as a social science and introduces students to philosophical issues underlying modern science. Approaching the subject as philosophy of science for economists, the authors use the historical developments in philosophy of science to frame this introduction to the field of economic methodology. By doing this they strengthen students' understanding of economics as a science to enhance their reasoning skills, introducing them to the wider philosophical issues surrounding our understanding of the area.Explores the status and character of economics as a social science and introduces students to wider philosophical issues underlying modern science.

Introduction.- 1. The Received View of Science.- 2. Methodologies of Positive Economics.- 3. Popper's Logic of Discovery.- 4. Kuhn and Lakatos.- 5. The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge.- 6. Rhetoric, Postmodernism, and Pluralism.- 7. Value Judgments in Economics.- Glossary.- Index.

Marcel Boumans is Associate Professor History and Methodology of Economics at the Utrecht School of Economics, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
?
John B. Davis is?Professor of Economics, Marquette University, USA, and Professor of Economics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.In this updated second edition of Economic Methodology, the authors bring together a wealth of research and teaching experience. While explaining the principles of economic methodology, they also contextualize it within the broader philosophy of science tradition.

Economic Methodology:
explores the status and character of economics as a social science, from when economic methodology gained formal recognition in the 1980s until today
discusses the influence of the philosophy of science, particularly the reaction against logical positivism as exemplified by Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatl£Á