This course is a course in philosophy of economics. The course consists of two parts: In the first part methodological considerations concerning the possibility of justifying scientific investigations will be presented — or rather repeated and enriched for those of you, who have attended the “Logic and Methodology”-course last summer term. We will begin with different versions of “confirmation-theories”, continue with Imre Lakatos' criticism of  falsificationism, and will discuss then van Fraassen‘s „constructive empiricism“ or accounts in the tradition of Lipton‘s „instrumentalism“. For part 1 audio lectures will be available (from last summer), slides, and a scriptum. Weekly assignments + written feedback will ensure that you stay "on board".

In the second part we will have a look at how these methodological consideration are applied in theories of economics, or: we will look at theories of economics from a methodological point of view — only: „Is economics and inductive science or a deductive one or neither/nor?"

    What is the view by someone like J.St. Mill, or the Austrian School of Economics, or Milton Friedman?  "How are theories in economics thought to be confirmable? What exactly are the premises of theories in economics — are they axioms, synthetic a priori statements, generalizations? „Are there strict laws in economics or just tendencies?" "What is the understanding of ‚cause‘, ‚laws‘, ‚explanation’ in economics?” , “Are theories in economics normative?”, “... should they be ...? ”, — all these questions will be our guiding questions. We will pursue these by going through the most prominent accounts in the philosophy of economics of the late 19th century and the 20th century: John Stuart Mill, D. Hausman on Mill, the Austrian School of Economics (Menger, Mises), the Chicago School (Knight, Friedman), critics of the Chicago School like Blaug, Krugman, and alternative and more recent accounts in the science of economics. Attention (again): Since this is not a course in the history of economical theory all these approaches will be looked at from a methodological point exclusively.

Participants of this course are supposed to get familiar with the nature of scientific knowledge; at the end of this course one ought to be able to analyse and evaluate different approaches in economics. 

This course is designed as blended learning course: attendance is reduced to 50% which means for this course that a part of part 1 will be a self study part (self study supported by study questions and a scriptum and slides and audios … ). The one Saturday you find in the syllabus is devoted to self study only! However: 100% attendance in class is required for part 2. 

The course is a blended learning course.

It will have as part 1 a self study phase and then a part with obligatory in-class presence. 

The course starts with a presence lecture (course information). In the following sessions, students will get input on theory ("laws" "ceteris parishes clauses", "tendencies", “logical reduction to observation sentences”, “eliminative inference”, “evidence”, „empirical content“, „counterfactuals“ etc., ) via texts, audios, and slides, while the presence phase in the last sessions is devoted to the application of methodological considerations. The tasks in the self-study phase will be explained and discussed in the very first session. During the part 1, you will turn in assignments, will receive e-mails reminding you of the assignments, Based on the theory input through the presence lectures + available as slide presentation with audio comment on Canvas, you should become familiar with modern methodological considerations. A Multiple Choice (MC) test serves as assessment of part 1. Written, personal feedback from me in respect to the weekly assignments will be (hopefully) of help in the preparation for the MC test. You can in addition discuss the outcomes of the assignments with me in the foren on Canvas — or in my office hours. 

Part B is your „stage“: In part B, we will discuss different conceptions of the nature of an economic theory. As a collaborative product of this course, you will work on a presentation. Communication in respect to these presentations will be offered in person during „office hours“ + Canvas forum, e-mail, online meetings. 

Assessment Criteria:

1. 1 MC test (has to be positive for a positive grade for the whole course but the test will not be difficult)
2. Assignments (open questions) : these are individual assignemnts
3. Short discussion paper: in groups (3 members max). 

 Points in total 200 :

Excellent (1): 182 - 200 points , in between 181/182:  1-2
Good (2): 160 - 181 points,  in between 159 / 160: 2-3
Satisfactory (3): 120 - 159 points
Sufficient (4): 80 - 119 points
Fail (5): 0 - 79 points

Three Assignments: max 60 points (individual task)

One short paper: max 80 points (group task)

MC Test: max 60 points

MC Test:

Excellent (1): 52 - 60 points
Good (2): 42 - 55 points
Satisfactory (3): 30 - 42 points
Sufficient (4): 22 - 30 points
Fail (5): <22

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

LV "Logic and Methodology of Social Sciences"

ao.Univ.Prof.Dr. Gabriele M. Mras
Building D4, 3rd floor, room number D4.3.020
Tel.: 01-31336-4257
Email: gabriele.mras@wu.ac.at

Administration: Bettina Gerdenich
Tel.: 01-31336-4166
Email: bettina.gerdenich@wu.ac.at

Some more information concerning LearnWU: 

a. the text in "Confirmation-Theory Summary" and will cover  the part of this course on confirmation theory b. the “lecture slides” in addition the part of John Stuart Mill. c. in “assignments” ( “assignment 1” ... ) you will find a number of open questions to be answered weekly. Please upload your answers as an extra file in “Assignments/Aufgaben”. Deadline? See "assignment 1" /"Aufgaben", c. in “paper topics” you will find the paper topics for the last two sessions before the MC test. Please upload your paper in “Dateiablage” (When? The latest : 1 day before the discussion/presentation).  d. Attention: Inform me/us in “Foren” about the paper topic you have chosen:  Name – Text – Date (two weeks after course-beginning the latest).

The MC/SC test will take place in the middle of this course. Duration: 1 hour, 60 questions, the questions will be MC and SC questions. ATTENTION: The final exam has to be positive for the grade of the whole course to be positive. In the case of an unexplained absence it will not (!) only be graded as having received 0 points!