Tag Archives: Theory of Science & Methodology

Going for the right kind of certainty​ in economics In science we standardly use a logically non-valid inference — the fallacy of affirming the consequent — of the following form: (1) p => q (2) q ————- p or, in instantiated form (1) ∀x (Gx => Px) (2) Pa ———— Ga Although logically invalid, it is nonetheless a kind of inference — abduction — that may be factually strongly warranted and truth-producing. Following the general pattern ‘Evidence  =>...

Habermas and Rorty on intersubjectivity and truth We teachers do our best to be Socratic, to get our job of re-education, secularization, and liberalization done by conversational exchange. That is true up to a point, but what about assigning books like Black Boy, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Becoming a Man? The racist or fundamentalist parents of our students say that in a truly democratic society the students should not be forced to read books by such...

Ways in which economists overbid their cards  [embedded content] div{float:left;margin-right:10px;} div.wpmrec2x div.u > div:nth-child(3n){margin-right:0px;} ]]> Advertisements

 [embedded content] Besides illustrating that it is simply not a good description of how we make inferences in science to assume that non-black armchairs confirm the hypothesis that all ravens are black, Hempel’s paradox — at least in my reading of it — makes a good argument for a causal account of confirmation of empirical generalizations. Contrary to positivist theories of confirmation, the paradox shows that to have a good explanation in sciences, we have to make...

What kind of realist am I? Some commentators on this blog seem to be of the opinion that since yours truly is critical of mainstream economics and ask for more relevance and realism I’m bound to be a “naive” realist or empiricist. Nothing could be further from the truth! In a time when scientific relativism is expanding, it is important to keep up the claim for not reducing science to a pure discursive level. We have to maintain the Enlightenment tradition...

Economic modeling — a realist perspective To his credit Keynes was not, in contrast to Samuelson, a formalist who was committed to mathematical economics. Keynes wanted models, but for him, building them required ‘ a vigilant observation of the actual working of our system.’ Indeed, ‘to convert a model into a quantitative formula is to destroy its usefulness as an instrument of thought.’ That conclusion can be strongly endorsed! Modern economics has become...

Why diversity trumps ability  [embedded content] Advertisements

Logical fallacies — the case of Donald Trump [embedded content] Advertisements

How the laws of physics lie Melvyn Bragg and guests — Nancy Cartwright, Mark Buchanan and Frank Close — discuss if there are any Laws of Nature. And if so — are they really ‘facts of life’? http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iots/iots_20001019-0900a.mp3 Advertisements

A critical realist perspective on evidence-based policies  [embedded content] Advertisements