Popper And Economic Methodology (routledge Inem Advances In Economic Methodology)

Popper and Economic Methodology It is generally acknowledged that Sir Karl Popper ‘had a greater influence on postwar economic methodology than any other single philosopher’ (Wade Hands, 2001). However, since his death in 1994, there has been widespread resistance to Popper’s notion of critical rationalism, in the light of other twentieth century developments in philosophy. Boylan and O’Gorman have gathered essays that seek to reassess Popper’s contribution to the methodology of the social sciences and in particular economics, in both a positive and negative fashion. The particular Popperian themes addressed in this volume include: the threeworld thesis; the concept of rationality; his use of open-systems and his antiinductivism. These particular themes are critically analysed in the context of the philosophy of economics. Arising from this analysis, it is argued that there is a compelling need to acknowledge and re-evaluate the role of realism in Popperian economic methodology. This has major implications for the construction of models in economic theorising. This book will be of great interest to students engaged with economic methodology and the philosophy of economics, as well as anyone interested in new readings of the work of Popper. Thomas A. Boylan is Personal Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Paschal F. O’Gorman is Personal Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Routledge INEM Advances in Economic Methodology Series edited by Esther-Mirjam Sent, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands The field of economic methodology has expanded rapidly during the last few decades. This expansion has occurred in part because of changes within the discipline of economics, in part because of changes in the prevailing philosophical conception of scientific knowledge, and also because of various transformations within the wider society. Research in economic methodology now reflects not only developments in contemporary economic theory, the history of economic thought, and the philosophy of science; but it also reflects developments in science studies, historical epistemology, and social theorising more generally. The field of economic methodology still includes the search for rules for the proper conduct of economic science, but it also covers a vast array of other subjects and accommodates a variety of different approaches to those subjects. The objective of this series is to provide a forum for the publication of significant works in the growing field of economic methodology. Since the series defines methodology quite broadly, it will publish books on a wide range of different methodological subjects. The series is also open to a variety of different types of works: original research monographs, edited collections, as well as republication of significant earlier contributions to the methodological literature. The International Network for Economic Methodology (INEM) is proud to sponsor this important series of contributions to the methodological literature. 1 Foundations of Economic Method, 2nd edition A Popperian perspective Lawrence A. Boland 2 Applied Economics and the Critical Realist Critique Edited by Paul Downward 3 <