This book gives a good, straightward account of some of the main 'lines of thought' in economic methodology in the 20th century in so far as they have been influenced by the philosophy of science (starting with logical positivism). Part 1 deals with philosophy of science, Part 2 deals with economic methodology (and despite the author's apparent intention, could well be read without reference to Part 1), and Part 3 deals with a number of methodological issues (here the author expresses personal views and his preferred position of pluralism).



The book has a somewhat 'textbookish' feel to it in that it is clearly written, is fairly comprehensive, and does not foist upon the reader too many personal, idiosyncratic opinions (at least for Parts 1 & 2, which make up the bulk of the book).



It was good to see the Austrian School was included in Part 2, as the Austrians are often unfairly dismissed as nutters. It would have been good to see a section on Marxist thinking on methodology too - although this might have involved opening a large can of large worms. A criticism that might be made these days (though not at the time the book was originally written) is that it does not pay too much attention to the issue of whether the methodological views of economists are actually put into practice, and whether or not the best way to understand economists' methodological views is to look at their applied work (see e.g. Theory and Measurement: Causality Issues in Milton Friedman's Monetary Economics (Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics) for this kind of approach).

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