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24Introduction to Symposium on Terence Hutchison and Economic MethodologyJournal of Economic Methodology 16 (3): 277-281. 2009.The article presents the author's perspectives regarding the book "The Significance and Basic Postulates of Economic Theory," by Terence Wilmot Hutchison. He emphasizes two important general themes that emerge from the symposium in total, the great breadth of Hutchison's contribution to economic methodology and a brief introduction on the four individual papers. He mentions some people including Roger Backhouse, John Hart and Ross Emmett as well as the comments of each about Hutchison's works.
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932Caveat emptor: Economics and contemporary philosophy of sciencePhilosophy of Science 64 (4): 116. 1997.The relationship between economics and the philosophy of natural science has changed substantially during the last few years. What was once exclusively a one-way relationship from philosophy to economics now seems to be much closer to bilateral exchange. The purpose of this paper is to examine this new relationship. First, I document the change. Second, I examine the situation within contemporary philosophy of science in order to explain why economics might have its current appeal. Third, I cons…Read more
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72What economics is not: An economist's response to RosenbergPhilosophy of Science 51 (3): 495-503. 1984.Alexander Rosenberg (1983) has argued, contrary to his previous work in the philosophy of economics, that economics is not science, and it is merely mathematics. The following paper argues that Rosenberg fails to demonstrate either of these two claims. The questions of the predictive weakness of modern economics and the cognitive standing of abstract economic theory are discussed in detail
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69Social Epistemology Meets the Invisible Hand: Kitcher on the Advancement of ScienceDialogue 34 (3): 605-. 1995.
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632Popper, the Rationality Principle and Economic ExplanationIn G. K. Shaw (ed.), Economics, Culture, and Education: Essays in Honor of Mark Blaug, Edward Elgar. pp. 108-119. 1991.
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54Normative ecological rationality: normative rationality in the fast-and-frugal-heuristics research programJournal of Economic Methodology 21 (4): 396-410. 2014.The purpose of this paper is to examine the normative interpretation of the fast-and-frugal research program and in particular to contrast it with the normative reading of rational choice theory and behavioral economics. The ecological rationality of fast-and-frugal heuristics is admittedly a form of normative naturalism – it derives what agents “ought” to do from that which “is” ecologically rational – and the paper will examine how this differs from the normative rationality associated with ra…Read more
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122Foundations of Contemporary Revealed Preference TheoryErkenntnis 78 (5): 1081-1108. 2013.This paper examines methodological issues raised by revealed preference theory in economics: particularly contemporary revealed preference theory. The paper has three goals. First, to make the case that revealed preference theory is a broad research program in choice theory—not a single theory—and understanding this diversity is essential to any methodological analysis of the program. Second, to explore some of the existing criticisms of revealed preference theory in a way that emphasizes how th…Read more
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24Book Reviews: Selected Essays by Frank H. Knight. Volume 1: What Is Truth in Economics?, Selected Essays by Frank H. Knight. Volume 2: Laissez-Faire: Pro and Con (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 34 (4): 590-593. 2004.
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517Review Symposium : Douglas W. Hands G. C. Archibald Joseph Agassi On S. J. Latsis, ed. Method and Appraisal in Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976. Pp. viii + 218. $17.50 The Methodology of Economic Research Programmes (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 9 (3): 293-303. 1979.
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448The Problem of Excess Content: Economics, Novelty and a Long Popperian TaleIn Mark Blaug & Neil de Marchi (eds.), Appraising Economic Theories: Studies in the Methodology of Research Programs, Edward Elgar. pp. 58-75. 1991.The paper traces the sequence of events which brought Popperian philosophy (including Lakatos) to its position on the issues of excess content, novelty and scientific progress. The general approach is to analyze Popper's and Lakatos's positions on these issues as an appropriate response to a particular philosophical problem situation in which they found themselves. The paper closes with a discussion of how these issues relate to economics and economic methodology.
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488William Stanley Jevons and the Making of Modern Economics, by Harro Maas. Cambridge University Press, 2005, xxii+330 pages (review)Economics and Philosophy 23 (2): 252-256. 2007.
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372Introspection, Revealed Preference and Neoclassical Economics: A Critical Response to Don Ross on the Robbins-Samuelson Argument PatternJournal of the History of Economic Thought 30 1-26. 2008.Abstract: Don Ross’ Economic Theory and Cognitive Science (2005) provides an elaborate philosophical defense of neoclassical economics. He argues that the central features of neoclassical theory are associated with what he calls the Robbins-Samuelson argument pattern and that it can be reconciled with recent developments in experimental and behavioral economics, as well as contemporary cognitive science. This paper argues that Ross’ Robbins-Samuelson argument pattern is not in the work of either…Read more
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13Introduction to symposium on ‘Patrick Suppes, economics, and economic methodology’Journal of Economic Methodology 23 (3): 237-240. 2016.
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85210 Constructivism: the social construction of scientific knowledgeIn John Bryan Davis & Alain Marciano (eds.), The Elgar companion to economics and philosophy, Edward Elgar. pp. 197. 2004.
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29You want the social? You can’t handle the social! Mirowski on the secret history of scientific philosophyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 36 (4): 726-733. 2005.
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163Karl Popper and economic methodology: a new lookEconomics and Philosophy 1 (1): 83-. 1985.Discussions of Karl Popper's falsificationist philosophy of science appear regularly in the recent literature on economic methodology. In this literature, there seem to be two fundamental points of agreement about Popper. First, most economists take Popper's falsificationist method of bold conjecture and severe test to be the correct characterization of scientific conduct in the physical sciences. Second, most economists admit that economic theory fails miserably when judged by these same falsif…Read more
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705Realism, Commonsensibles, and Economics:The Case of Contemporary Revealed Preference TheoryIn Aki Petteri Lehtinen, Jaakko Kuorikoski & Petri Ylikoski (eds.), Economics for real: Uskali Mäki and the place of truth in economics, Routledge. pp. 156-178. 2012.This paper challenges Mäki's argument about commonsensibles by offering a case study from contemporary microeconomics – contemporary revealed preference theory (hereafter CRPT) – where terms like "preference," "utility," and to some extent "choice," are radical departures from the common sense meanings of these terms. Although the argument challenges the claim that economics is inhabited solely by commonsensibles, it is not inconsistent with such folk notions being common in economic theory.
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39Review of: Human Agency and Language by Charles TaylorEconomics and Philosophy 3 (1): 172-175. 1987.
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Ad Hocness in Economics and Popperian PhilosophyIn Neil de Marchi (ed.), The Popperian Legacy in Economics and Beyond, Cambridge University Press. pp. 121-137. 1988.
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33Introduction to symposium on the explanation paradoxJournal of Economic Methodology 20 (3). 2013.No abstract
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27The Philosophy of Natural Science Takes an Economic Turn: Review of Philip Kitcher's The Advancement of Science: Science Without Legend, Objectivity Without Illusions (review)Journal of Economic Methodology 2 144-148. 1995.
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20Testing, Rationality, and Progress: Essays on the Popperian Tradition in Economic MethodologyRoman & Littlefield. 1993.This book brings together ten previously published essays on the philosophy of economics and economic methodology. The general theme is the application of Karl Popper's philosophy of science to economics -- not only by Popper himself but also by other members of the "Popperian school." There are three major issues that surface repeatedly: the applicability of Popper's falsificationist philosophy of science; the applicability of I. Lakatos's "methodology of scientific research programs" to econom…Read more
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1296Mark Blaug on the Normativity of Welfare EconomicsErasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 6 (3): 1-25. 2013.Abstract: This paper examines Mark Blaug's position on the normative character of Paretian welfare economics: in general, and specifically with respect to his debate with Pieter Hennipman over this question during the 1990s. The paper also clarifies some of the confusions that emerged within the context of this debate, and closes by providing some additional arguments supporting Blaug's position that he himself did not provide.
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40Karl Popper and Economic Methodology: A New LookEconomics and Philosophy 1 (1): 83-99. 1985.Discussions of Karl Popper's falsificationist philosophy of science appear regularly in the recent literature on economic methodology. In this literature, there seem to be two fundamental points of agreement about Popper. First, most economists take Popper's falsificationist method of bold conjecture and severe test to be the correct characterization of scientific conduct in the physical sciences. Second, most economists admit that economic theory fails miserably when judged by these same falsif…Read more
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41Economics and Laudan's normative naturalism: Bad news from instrumental rationality's front lineSocial Epistemology 10 (2). 1996.No abstract
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41Economics and the Philosophy of Science, Deborah A. Redman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991, vii + 252 pages (review)Economics and Philosophy 8 (2): 298-303. 1992.
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Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Social Science |
20th Century Philosophy |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Social Science |
General Philosophy of Science |