What's the Point of Ceteris Paribus? or, How to Understand Supply and Demand Curves.
Philosophers sometimes claim that economics, and the idealizing strategies it employs, is ultimately unable to provide genuine laws of nature. Therefore, unlike physics, it does not qualify as an actual science. Careful consideration of thermodynamics, a well-developed physical theory, reveals subst...
| Published in: | Philosophy of Science Vol. 85; no. 2; pp. 271 - 293 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Cambridge University Press
Apr2018
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | Philosophers sometimes claim that economics, and the idealizing strategies it employs, is ultimately unable to provide genuine laws of nature. Therefore, unlike physics, it does not qualify as an actual science. Careful consideration of thermodynamics, a well-developed physical theory, reveals substantial parallels with economic methodology. The corrective account of scientific understanding I offer appreciates these parallels: understanding in terms of efficient performance. |
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