Reflection without Rules
Economic Methodology and Contemporary Science Theory

This book is a comprehensive and often controversial survey of economic methodology.

D. Wade Hands (Author)

9780521497152, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 April 2001

494 pages, 4 b/w illus.
23.6 x 16.2 x 3.2 cm, 0.789 kg

'I wish this book had been available to me back when I was in graduate school struggling to learn about economic methodological issues without a formal guide or class. Hands provides a very useful starting point for inquiry into a dauntingly complex area, and he summarizes important debates of great interest to economists. Reflections without rules is virtually a course in a book.' Diana Strassmann, Rice University

Reflection without Rules offers a comprehensive, pointed exploration of the methodological tradition in economics and the breakdown of the received view within the philosophy of science. Professor Hands investigates economists' use of naturalistic and sociological paradigms to model economic phenomena and assesses the roles of pragmatism, discourse, and situatedness in discussions of economic practice before turning to a systematic exploration of more recent developments in economic methodology. The treatment emphasizes the changes taking place in science theory and its relationship to the movement away from a rules-based view of economic methodology. The work will be of interest to all economists concerned with methodological issues as well as philosophers and others studying the relationships between economics and contemporary science theory.

1. Introduction
2. The methodological tradition in economics
3. The breakdown of the received view within the philosophy of science
4. The naturalistic turn
5. The sociological turn
6. Pragmatism, discourse, and situatedness
7. Recent developments in economic methodology
8. The economic turn
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA], Research methods: general [GPS]