Beyond Rhetoric and Realism in Economics: Towards a Reformulation of Methodology (Economics As Social Theory)

Boylan and O'Gorman inject a fresh empiricist voice into the recent debates in economic methodology.... praise the book for its careful scholarship, its intellectual novelty and its familiarity with existing methodological literature." D. Wade Hands, University of Puget Sound, USA

Beyond Rhetoric and Realism in Economics provides a clear introduction to some of the major debates taking place within the philosophy of economics. The book analyzes two methodological positions that have undermined the hegemony once enjoyed by positivist philosophies. The first position explored is rhetoric, which attacks imperiously prescriptive methodologies and attempts to expand the economic dialogue, often by introducing work from other disciplines. In contrast, the realists take issue with the relativizing tendencies of the rhetoric school and argue that scientific realism is the more compelling framework for economics.

While exploring both of these positions, Boylan and O'Gormon demonstrate why neither position is a satisfactory resolution to the methodological issues facing economics. In direct opposition to these positions, the authors construct and develop an alternative framework, which they term causal holism. With its origins in the work of Quine and van Frassen, this position shifts the focus of attention onto the role of economic models, especially their descriptive adequacy and provides a challenging analysis of economic theory, causality and explanation.

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An introduction to two competing perspectives which shows why neither one is a satisfactory resolution of the methodological issues facing economics. The authors develop an alternative framework, causal holism, which shifts the focus of attention to the role of economic models and analyzes economic theory, causality, and explanation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Boylan and O'Gorman inject a fresh empiricist voice into the debate on economic methodology. They strike a reasonable middle ground between the extremes of scientific realism and the rhetoric of economics.