Steve, I ask again, a point of agreement amongst whom? I flatly disagree with you if you say it is agreed by either economic methodologists or by philosophers of science. See for example the well known collection on economic methodology edited by Roger Backhouse, 'New directions in economic methodology' (Routledge 1994). But more than that consider the entire development of economic methodology since Blaug's seminal text on the topic. Blaug asserts not just Popper-Lakatos's general view but also the specific one regarding the litmus test. And it is this litmus test, more than anything else, that *has* been rejected by most people in the field. What on earth is the current 'return to practice' if it isn't a rejection of the litmus test? How then can you assert that it (the litmus test) remains a point of agreement? At the very least you must argue for this contentious assertion (one that is incorrect on my view!) Andy PS I have been unable to solve the problem of the 'send reply to' field. Any help on this would be appreciated. ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 21:04:54 +1000 To: Andrew@lubs.leeds.ac.uk From: Steve Keen <s.keen@uws.edu.au> Subject: Re: [OPE-L:4155] Who agrees with Popper? [re OPE-L:4154] Popper's theory of how a science does develop and should practice has been rejected since Kuhn. But his litmus test remains a point of agreement. Steve At 10:11 19/10/00 +0100, you wrote: >Steve, > >You wrote [OPE-L:4154]: > >> science has moved on a long way from Popper, his litmus test between a >> science and a non-science--that the former makes statements which can be >> falsified, whereas the latter makes it impossible to either verify or >> disconfirm itself--is still accepted. > >By whom? As I understand it (I'm no expert) it is not accepted, as >a general rule, by current 'philosophers of science' (it hasn't been >since Feyerabend), nor therefore by current 'economic >methodologists' (who tend to be some years behind the philospohy >of science discipline). Far from it, the current vogue is a 'return to >practice' which means rejecting the 'prescriptivism' typified by >Popper and (lamely) *describing* what scientists actually do. > >I certainly don't agree with Popper's 'litmus test'. I don't think Marx >did in the slightest (nor do I agree with the current 'philosophy of >science' - obvioulsy Marx doesn't). However, I'm not really sure >where people on this list stand on the 'litmus test'. Fred stated >agreement with Gil on this I think. It is an important question >anyway. > >Andy > > Dr. Steve Keen Senior Lecturer Economics & Finance University of Western Sydney Macarthur Building 11 Room 30, Goldsmith Avenue, Campbelltown PO Box 555 Campbelltown NSW 2560 Australia s.keen@uws.edu.au 61 2 4620-3016 Fax 61 2 4626-6683 Home 02 9558-8018 Mobile 0409 716 088 Home Page: http://bus.macarthur.uws.edu.au/steve-keen/ ------- End of forwarded message -------
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