Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Method: a method is a procedure agreed on by participants of a discussion or research project. In the case of violations of a method, the comparability of the results is in particular questioned, since these no longer come from a set with uniformly defined properties of the elements._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Jean-Baptiste Say on Method - Dictionary of Arguments
Rothbard II 12 Method/Say/Rothbard: A particularly outstanding feature of J.B. Say's treatise(1) is that he was the first economist to think deeply about the proper methodology of his discipline, and to base his work, as far as he could, upon that methodology. From previous economists and from his own study, he arrived at the unique method of economic theory, what Ludwig von Mises was, over a century later, to call ‘praxeology’. Economics, Say realized, was not based on a mass of inchoate particular statistical facts. It was based, instead, on very general facts (fait généraux), facts so general and universal and so deeply rooted in the nature of man and his world that everyone, upon learning or reading of them, would give his assent. Rothbard II 13 These facts were based, then, on the nature of things (la nature des choses), and on the deductive implications of these facts so broadly rooted in human nature and in natural law. Since these broad facts were true, their logical implications must be true as well. >Physiocrats/Say. Francis Bacon/Say: Say goes on to mention the popularity of the Baconian method of induction from a mass of facts in the formation of a science, but then adds that there are two kinds of facts, ‘objects that exist’ and ‘events that take place’. Clearly, objects that exist are primary, since events that take place are only movements or interactions of existing objects. Both classes of facts, noted Say, constitute the ‘nature of things’, and ‘a careful observation of the nature of things is the sole foundation of all truth’. Facts/Statistics/Say: Facts may also be grouped into two kinds: general or constant, and particular or variable. (…) Say then launched into a brilliant critique of the statistical method, and of the difference between it and political economy. Political economy deals with general facts or laws: Political economy, from facts always carefully observed, makes known to us the nature of wealth; from the knowledge of its nature deduces the means of its creation, unfolds the order of its distribution, and the phenomena attending its destruction. It is, in other words, an exposition of the general facts observed in relation to this subject. With respect to wealth, it is a knowledge of effects and of their causes. It shows what facts are constantly conjoined with; so that one is always the sequence of the other. Hypotheses/Say: (…) economics ‘does not resort for any further explanation to hypothesis’. In short, unlike the physical sciences, the assumptions of economics are not tentative hypotheses which, or the deductions from which, must be tested by fact; on the contrary, each step of the logical chain rests on definitely true, not ‘hypothetical’, general facts. Rothbard II 14 Political economy/Say/Rothbard: A crucial difference between statistics and political economy, (…) is that the latter's general principles or ‘general facts’ may be discovered, and therefore may be known with certainty. The principles of political economy, wherever they rest on ‘the rigorous deductions of undeniable general facts’, ‘rest upon an immovable foundation’. They are what von Mises would later call ‘apodictic’. >Experience/Say, >Ludwig von Mises. Rothbard II 15 Language/Say: In a surprising and perceptive prefigurement of modern controversies, Say goes on to explain why the logical deductions of economic theory should be verbal rather than mathematical. The intangible values of individuals, with which political economy is concerned, are subject to continuing and Rothbard II 16 unpredictable change: 'subject to the influence of the faculties, the wants and the desires of mankind, they are not susceptible of any rigorous appreciation, and cannot, therefore, furnish any data for absolute calculations'. The phenomena of the moral world, noted Say, are not 'subject to strict arithmetical computation'. Mathematics/Say: Mathematics, seemingly so precise, inevitably ends in reducing economics from the complete knowledge of general principles to arbitrary formulas which alter and distort the principles and hence corrupt the conclusions. Rothbard II 16 Common sense/Say/Rothbard: In short, a system of economic theory must not only be axiomatic-deductive; it must always make sure to ground those axioms in ‘common sense and universal experience’. 1. Say, J.-B. 1803. Traité d'économie politique ou simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent et se composent les richesses.translated into English as A Treatise on Political Economy (ed. Clement C. Biddle, 6th Amer. ed., 1834, New York: A. M. Kelley, 1964), based on the final fifth French edition of 1826._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
EconSay I Jean-Baptiste Say Traité d’ Economie Politique Paris 1803 Rothbard II Murray N. Rothbard Classical Economics. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham 1995 Rothbard III Murray N. Rothbard Man, Economy and State with Power and Market. Study Edition Auburn, Alabama 1962, 1970, 2009 Rothbard IV Murray N. Rothbard The Essential von Mises Auburn, Alabama 1988 Rothbard V Murray N. Rothbard Power and Market: Government and the Economy Kansas City 1977 |
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