Beyond Positivism

This book gives a good, straightward account of some of the main 'lines of thought' in economic methodology in the 20th century in so far as they have been influenced by the philosophy of science (starting with logical positivism). Part 1 deals with philosophy of science, Part 2 deals with economic methodology (and despite the author's apparent intention, could well be read without reference to Part 1), and Part 3 deals with a number of methodological issues (here the author expresses personal views and his preferred position of pluralism). The book has a somewhat 'textbookish' feel to it in that it is clearly written, is fairly comprehensive, and does not foist upon the reader too many personal, idiosyncratic opinions (at least for Parts 1 & 2, which make up the bulk of the book). It was good to see the Austrian School was included in Part 2, as the Austrians are often unfairly dismissed as nutters. It would have been good to see a section on Marxist thinking on methodology too - although this might have involved opening a large can of large worms. A criticism that might be made these days (though not at the time the book was originally written) is that it does not pay too much attention to the issue of whether the methodological views of economists are actually put into practice, and whether or not the best way to understand economists' methodological views is to look at their applied work (see e.g. Theory and Measurement: Causality Issues in Milton Friedman's Monetary Economics (Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics) for this kind of approach).

The author had two broad objectives in this book. The first was to provide a critique of positivism, including logical positivism, logical empiricism, operationalism and falsificationism. The second was to identify the implications of this critique for economic methodology. The first part of the book describes the role of the Vienna Circle in the rise of logical positivism during the 1920s and 1930s, followed by the maturation of the tradition in the form of logical empiricism, then the philosophical attack and the emergence of the "growth of knowledge" tradition with Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos and Feyerabend. The second part of the book consists of essays on various aspects of positivism and alternative approaches including the "Austrian" approach of Robins and Machlup (each pitted against Hutchison), Friedman's instrumentalism and Samuelson's "descriptivism". The third part provides some provisional answers, notably a case for methodological pluralism.In view of the way that positivism dominated the philosophy of science during the 20th century this scholarly appraisal of the rise and fall of the movement is a valuable contribution to the history of ideas. However as a contribution to contemporary thinking on these matters it would have been a more original and challenging enterprise if positivism had not already been devastated by Popper, who replaced justificationism and inductivism with critical rationalism and the non-authoritarian theory of knowledge. This is a new edition of Caldwell's 1982 book but it is not really revised and so it does not do justice to his "mature" thinking which can be found in an article "clarifying Popper" in the Journal of Economic Literature, March 1991. This article draws on Popper's theory of metaphysical research programs and shows that when he is depicted as a critical rationalist instead of a falsificationist, several pieces of the jigsaw fall into place, including Popper's re-invention of "Austrian" praxeology and Talcott Parsons' "action frame of reference" under the heading of "situational analysis". It seems that the field of economic methodology has been unduly influenced by Mark "Bluster" Blaug's commitment to Lakatos rather than Popper, to "falsificationism" rather than critical rationalism and to the Kuhn/Lakatos notion of research programs with inviolable "hard cores" rather than the Popperian program which subjects "hard cores" to critical appraisal. Lakatos, as a Hegelian, attempted a synthesis of Popper and Kuhn, to capture the Spirit of the Age, as it was, becoming in the process a Historical Figure. This grand scheme did not work out and the tormented progress of the Lakatosian World Spirit continued to cause confusion on several continents (and in the isles of Greece) even after Lakatos himself had gone.When the idea of Popper as a critical rationalist is taken on board, as Caldwell appeared to be doing in his "clarification" paper, then some really interesting results emerge, as indicated by Bo

This is probably the best introduction and overview to a broad range of philosophical concerns within the discipline of economics. It is accessible to the lay reader but is not dumbed down in order to be popular. It does not require any particular knowledge of economic theory but instead deals with general philosohical and methodological issues in economics. Nonetheless, the reader is engaged with key methodological debates within the discipline of economics.The book implicitly contains a number of critiques of the (neoclassical) economic orthodoxy, set in their historical perspective. The basic concern of the book is with the influence of logical positivism and its descendants on economic theorising and accepted methodologies, and the book concludes with Caldwell's suggesting an approach to resolving many of these issues, called "methodological pluralism".If you are interested in examining the philosophical foundations of economics, this is probably the best book around. If you are interested in the philosophy of economics, there is also a reader entitled "The Philosophy of Economics" by Daniel Hausman which would make a good companion. "Why Economics is not yet a Science", Alfred Eichner, 1983 is an interesting questioning of approaches and methodologies in economics. If you are interested in alternatives to mainstream economic approaches, then "A Modern Guide to Economic Thought" by Maire and Miller, 1991 is a good introduction (aimed at an interested university undergraduate without necessarily having a strong current background in economics studies).There is also a large literature on the sociology of economics, examining how the discipline of economics adapts to new ideas and criticisms. "Canonizing Economic Theory : How Theories and Ideas Are Selected in Economics", Christopher D. MacKie, ME Sharpe, 1998 is a good starting point for this.