Overview

The course addresses some fundamental epistemological debates in economics: is economics a science similar to the natural sciences? what roles do observation and quantification, induction, and deduction play in it? Are economic laws natural? What is an economic model? It draws on fundamental concepts and authors in the philosophy of science (the Vienna Circle, Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos, etc.), as well as the hypotheses and lines of reasoning adopted and developed in various economic theories since the 18th century, as presented in the theoretical courses of the bachelor’s degree in economics (courses on comparative economic theories, microeconomics, and macroeconomics), and the epistemological and methodological analyses produced by economists themselves (Robbins, Friedman, etc.).

Outline

1. Defining an Economy
2. Mechanisms and Natural Laws
3. Economics and Politics
4. Philosophy of Science in the 20th and 21st Centuries
5. Economic Models
6. The Empiricist Turn

Suggested Readings

• Chalmers, A., What is this Thing Called Science?, Univ. of Queensland Press, 1999
• Boumans, M., and John B. Davis, Economic Methodology: Understanding Economics as a Science, Palgrave, 2016.
• Heilbroner, R.L., The Worldly Philosophers, 1953, Simon & Schuster, 7th edition, 1999
• Rodrik, D., Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of The Dismal Science, New York: W.W. Norton; 2015.