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. – Dictionary of Arguments. | |||
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Carl Menger on Method - Dictionary of Arguments
Coyne I 7 Method/Menger/Coyne/Boettke: (…) Carl Menger provided a unique set of methodological principles that are at the foundation of what makes Austrian economics distinct. These principles are grounded in the core purpose of economics, which is the intelligibility of the world in which we live. Further, since their goal is to understand the human world, economists must render the events under examination intelligible in terms of purposeful human action. This leads to the recognition that only individuals face decisions and make choices, though undoubtedly conditioned by their social surroundings. >Decision, >Decision making process, >Actions. Methodological individualism: Therefore, social phenomena are only rendered intelligible if the economist traces those phenomena back to individual decisions. This is the concept of “methodological individualism,” which holds that people, with their unique purposes and plans, are the beginning of all economics analysis. Groups and organizations, which consist of people, do not engage in choice and do not have purposes and plans absent the individuals that constitute the group. This involves starting with the individual choosers and tracing out the implications of their decisions in light of their desired ends. Analysis: These core principles - methodological individualism and purposive behaviour - have important implications for the way that we engage in economic analysis. We are interested in explaining a variety of complex phenomena - for example, exchange, price formation - and to do so we appreciate that these phenomena are composed of the actions of numerous individual actors. It is only by appreciating the purposes and plans of individuals that we can hope to make sense of the world. The theorems of economics - that is, the concepts of marginal utility and opportunity cost, and the principle of demand and supply - are all derived from reflection upon purposefulness in human action. >Marginal utility, >Opportunity cost, >Demand, >Supply, >Price, >Exchange. Economic theory does not represent a set of testable hypotheses, but rather a set of conceptual tools that aid us in reading and understanding the complexities of the empirical world. This is fundamentally different from the scientific method employed in the natural sciences. >Human Action/Austrian School._____________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. "Vs" indicates differences in content, not necessarily the chronological progression of a controversy. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Meng I K. Menger Selected Papers in Logic and Foundations, Didactics, Economics (Vienna Circle Collection) 1979 Coyne I Christopher J. Coyne Peter J. Boettke The Essential Austrian Economics Vancouver 2020 |
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