Economics in the Encyclopedia of Unified Science: Some Notes on Gerhard Tintner?s volumen of 1968

JAVIER LEGRIS; PABLO JAVIER MIRA

San Luis Potosí

Conferencia; CONFERENCIA SIAME 2018; 2018

Sociedad Ibero-­‐Americana de Metodología Económica (SIAME)

The Encyclopediaof Unified Science finally published its volume devoted on methodologicalproblems in Economics 50 years ago. It should be the last of the whole series.It was entitled Methodology ofMathematical Economics and Econometrics and the author was the Austrian-borneconometrician Gerhard Tintner. The Encyclopediawas an outcome of the general program of Unified Science that had been originallydriven by Otto Neurath at the beginning of the 1930s in the context of theVienna Circle and the school of Logical Empiricism. The aim of this paper istwofold. Firstly, we examine the evolution of the philosophical ideas onEconomics within the program of the Unified Science that led to Tintner?s book.Secondly, we attempt to make an assessment of Tintner?s book in relation tothis background and to the situation of the philosophy of Economics at the timeof its publication. Hence, the difficulties in placing Economics (and Social Sciencesin general) in the program of Unified Science will be pointed out. Moreover, wewill suggest a reevaluation of some ideas developed by the logical empiricists(Neurath above all) in the light of the current methodological problems inEconomics.<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face{font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:roman;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:swiss;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:115%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:ES;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-size:11.0pt;mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:ES;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoPapDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;}size:595.3pt 841.9pt;margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm;mso-header-margin:35.4pt;mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1{page:WordSection1;}