Beyond Rhetoric and Realism in Economics: Towards a Reformulation of Methodology

by Thomas Boylan, Paschal O'Gorman

Overview

Boylan and O'Gorman inject a fresh empiricist voice into the recent debates in economic methodology.... praise the book for its careful scholarship, its intellectual novelty and its familiarity with existing methodological literature." D. Wade Hands, University of Puget Sound, USA

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134801954
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/08/1995
Series:	Economics as Social Theory
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	421 KB

About the Author

Thomas Boylan, Paschal O'Gorman

Table of Contents

Preface, Acknowledgements, Introduction, 1 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS: Methodological perspectives, 2 RHETORIC: The abandonment of methodology?, 3 CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: Methodology revisited, 4 SCIENTIFIC REALISM: Methodology reinstated, 5 THE PLAUSIBILITY OF ECONOMIC ASSUMPTIONS: Realist perspectives, 6 CONSTRUCTIVE EMPIRICISM: The challenge to scientific realism, 7 TOWARDS A RECONSTRUCTION OF ECONOMIC METHODOLOGY: The emergence of causal holism, 8 FROM FRIEDMAN TO KALDOR: A causal holist critique of the methodology of neoclassical economics, 9 CAUSAL HOLISM: Beyond rhetoric and realism, Bibliography,Index

Editorial Reviews

An introduction to two competing perspectives which shows why neither one is a satisfactory resolution of the methodological issues facing economics. The authors develop an alternative framework, "causal holism," which shifts the focus of attention to the role of economic models and analyzes economic theory, causality, and explanation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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