The Philosophy of Science and Economics

Abstract

The philosophy of science proposes criteria to delineate true science and a theory to explain its progress. As a graduate student under the supervision of Lionel Robbins and Karl Popper, Solo first challenged the viability of those criteria and that theory in relation to economics and the social sciences. Here he explains how the foundations of that philosophy have been eroded through the advent of quantum mechanics and through Kuhn's "Structures of Scientific Revolution", and demonstrates its irrelevance to a social science that would comprehend social reality and contribute to the formation of social policy. He proposes a different mode of perception, and different rules for determining the acceptability of statement, a different language of discourse, and a different structure of organization than presently prevails.