CLASSIC DISCUSSIONS

The six selections reprinted in this section are a good sample of the major contributions to the philosophy and methodology of economics before the late 1930s, when logical positivism became influential. Not all the significant works could be included – even in abridged form – but many of the methodological insights of authors omitted here, such as J. E. Cairnes, J. N. Keynes, Carl Menger, W. S. Jevons, Alfred Marshall, and Ludwig von Mises appear in other essays in this anthology. The materials collected in this section represent a number of different perspectives and have stood the test of time. Although economic theory has changed considerably since Mill or Marx or Veblen wrote, their appreciation of the methodological difficulties of economics still rewards careful study. One might, in fact, argue that thinking on economic methodology has advanced very little beyond the stage to which the authors in this section brought it.