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Caveat Emptor: Economics and Contemporary Philosophy of Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

D. Wade Hands*
Affiliation:
University of Puget Sound
*
Department of Economics, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA, 98416; e-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

The relationship between economics and the philosophy of natural science has changed substantially during the last few years. What was once exclusively a one-way relationship from philosophy to economics now seems to be much closer to bilateral exchange. The purpose of this paper is to examine this new relationship. First, I document the change. Second, I examine the situation within contemporary philosophy of science in order to explain why economics might have its current appeal. Third, I consider some of the issues that might jeopardize the success of this philosophical project.

Type
Symposium: The Use of Economic Concepts in Contemporary Philosophy of Science
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1997

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Esther-Mirjam Sent and Miriam Solomon for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

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