Determinism, Causality and Explanation in Economics: An Austrian School Perspective (Routledge INEM Advances in Economic Methodology)

In recent years, the concepts of determinism, causality, and explanation have taken on particular importance in the economic literature.Due to the failures of economic predictions based on mathematical models, philosophers and economists turned their attention to methodological issues.At the same time, heterodox approaches to economics have received increased attention, including the Austrian school of economics, an intellectual tradition that perceives economics as a science of human action and has emphasised the role of causal explanations practically from its inception.This book opens by exploring disputes in the philosophy of science over the fundamental goal of science.While instrumentalists argue that scientists should aim at good predictions regardless of the veracity of theories, according to scientific realists, they should look for knowledge that reflects reality.The book shows that the Austrian tradition adheres to scientific realism and can be perceived as a middle ground b