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Filosofia De La Economia, Jul 15, 2013
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1985
's essay 'The methodology of positive economics' [1953] is considered authoritative by almost eve... more 's essay 'The methodology of positive economics' [1953] is considered authoritative by almost every textbook writer who wishes to discuss the methodology of economics. Nevertheless, virtually all the journal articles that have been written about that essay have been very critical. This is a rather unusual situation. The critics condemn Friedman's essay, but virtually all the textbooks praise it. Why should honest textbook writers ignore the critics? It will be argued here that the reason is quite clear. Every critic of Friedman's essay has been wrong. The fundamental reason why all of the critics are wrong is that their criticisms are not based on a clear, correct or even fair understanding of his essay. Friedman simply does not make the mistakes he is accused of making. His methodological position is both logically sound and unambiguously based on a coherent philosophy of science-instrumentalism. In order to defend Friedman from his critics, I shall outline some necessary background knowledge-a clear understanding of the nature of logic and the philosophy of instrumentalismand then present a reader's guide to his essay. Based on this background knowledge and the reader's guide, I shall survey and comment upon the major critics of Friedman's methodology. I shall conclude with a suggestion as to how a fair criticism would proceed. THE USEFULNESS OF LOGIC Modus ponens: logic's only useful property Artistotle was probably the first to systemize the principles of logic; most of them were common knowledge in his time. Logic has not changed much since then, although some presentations lead one to think that our logic is different. Modern writers too often discuss logic as if it had nothing to do with truth. But such a view of logic is an error. In Aristotle's view logic was the study of the principles of true and successful argument. 1 Recognizing that arguments consist only of individual statements joined together with an 'and' or an 'or', Aristotle was concerned with determining what kinds of statements are admissible into logical arguments. He posited some rules that are in effect necessary conditions for the admissibility of statements into a logical argument. These rules, which later became known as the axioms or canons of logic, cannot be used to justify an argument; they can only be used to criticize or reject an argument on the grounds of inadmissibility. 2 The only purpose for requiring arguments to be logical is to connect the truth of the premises or assumptions to the truth of the conclusions. Merely joining together a set of admissible statements does not necessarily form a logical argument; the only criterion for whether an admissible argument is logical is whether it is a sufficient argument in favor of its conclusions in the following sense. If your argument is logical, then whenever all of your assumptions (or premises) are true all of your conclusions will be true as well. To prove that an argument is logical, one must be able to demonstrate its sufficiency. Whenever one establishes the logical sufficiency of a formal (or abstract) argument, one can use that formal 7
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 2010
... realism Obstacles to representative realism 288 Inductive basis for knowledge assumptions Dis... more ... realism Obstacles to representative realism 288 Inductive basis for knowledge assumptions Disequilibrium ... methodology: Towards a Popperian 'small-m' methodology of economics 295 The ... 1981 Popperian perspective 296 The traditional view of methods Authoritarianism and ...
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1984
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Subjectivism, Intelligibility and Economic Understanding, 1986
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1989
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1971
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2014
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2008
Filosofia De La Economia, Jul 15, 2013
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1985
's essay 'The methodology of positive economics' [1953] is considered authoritative by almost eve... more 's essay 'The methodology of positive economics' [1953] is considered authoritative by almost every textbook writer who wishes to discuss the methodology of economics. Nevertheless, virtually all the journal articles that have been written about that essay have been very critical. This is a rather unusual situation. The critics condemn Friedman's essay, but virtually all the textbooks praise it. Why should honest textbook writers ignore the critics? It will be argued here that the reason is quite clear. Every critic of Friedman's essay has been wrong. The fundamental reason why all of the critics are wrong is that their criticisms are not based on a clear, correct or even fair understanding of his essay. Friedman simply does not make the mistakes he is accused of making. His methodological position is both logically sound and unambiguously based on a coherent philosophy of science-instrumentalism. In order to defend Friedman from his critics, I shall outline some necessary background knowledge-a clear understanding of the nature of logic and the philosophy of instrumentalismand then present a reader's guide to his essay. Based on this background knowledge and the reader's guide, I shall survey and comment upon the major critics of Friedman's methodology. I shall conclude with a suggestion as to how a fair criticism would proceed. THE USEFULNESS OF LOGIC Modus ponens: logic's only useful property Artistotle was probably the first to systemize the principles of logic; most of them were common knowledge in his time. Logic has not changed much since then, although some presentations lead one to think that our logic is different. Modern writers too often discuss logic as if it had nothing to do with truth. But such a view of logic is an error. In Aristotle's view logic was the study of the principles of true and successful argument. 1 Recognizing that arguments consist only of individual statements joined together with an 'and' or an 'or', Aristotle was concerned with determining what kinds of statements are admissible into logical arguments. He posited some rules that are in effect necessary conditions for the admissibility of statements into a logical argument. These rules, which later became known as the axioms or canons of logic, cannot be used to justify an argument; they can only be used to criticize or reject an argument on the grounds of inadmissibility. 2 The only purpose for requiring arguments to be logical is to connect the truth of the premises or assumptions to the truth of the conclusions. Merely joining together a set of admissible statements does not necessarily form a logical argument; the only criterion for whether an admissible argument is logical is whether it is a sufficient argument in favor of its conclusions in the following sense. If your argument is logical, then whenever all of your assumptions (or premises) are true all of your conclusions will be true as well. To prove that an argument is logical, one must be able to demonstrate its sufficiency. Whenever one establishes the logical sufficiency of a formal (or abstract) argument, one can use that formal 7
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 2010
... realism Obstacles to representative realism 288 Inductive basis for knowledge assumptions Dis... more ... realism Obstacles to representative realism 288 Inductive basis for knowledge assumptions Disequilibrium ... methodology: Towards a Popperian 'small-m' methodology of economics 295 The ... 1981 Popperian perspective 296 The traditional view of methods Authoritarianism and ...
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1984
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Subjectivism, Intelligibility and Economic Understanding, 1986
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1989
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2000
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1971
Its Purposes and Limitations, 2014
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2008