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John Stuart Mill's Philosophy of Economics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Daniel M. Hausman
Daniel M. Hausman*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland
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Abstract

John Stuart Mill regards economics as an inexact and separate science which employs a deductive method. This paper analyzes and restates Mill's views and considers whether they help one to understand philosophical peculiarities of contemporary microeconomic theory. The author concludes that it is philosophically enlightening to interpret microeconomics as an inexact and separate science, but that Mill's notion of a deductive method has only a little to contribute.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , September 1981 , pp. 363 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

I have benefited greatly from discussing the issues considered in this paper with Margaret Atherton, Lindley Darden, Philip Ehrlich, Isaac Levi, Sidney Morgenbesser, Robert Schwartz and Frederick Suppe. Conrad Johnson, Catherine Kautsky, Alexander Rosenberg, Dudley Shapere, Allen Stairs, and Paul Thagard read earlier drafts and offered helpful advice and criticism. Anonymous reviewers for this journal offered some useful criticism. The support of the National Science Foundation (Grant #SES 8007385) is gratefully acknowledged.

References

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