Alla ricerca del metodo perduto: l'insegnamento di Federico Caffè (In search for lost method: the legagy of Federico Caffè)

There is more to Caffè than the sum of a careful scholar, a subtle controversialist and a skilful teacher. Emphasis on single traits of his human and scientific personality may misrepresent his general view of the world we live in and of how it ought to be understood and changed. Reality, according to Caffè, is characterized by a strong interdependence between economic, social and natural relations, so that it is impossible – other than for heuristic reasons – to provide a clear-cut demarcation of different scientific disciplines. This leads to his problematic approach to economic thought, which consists in emphasizing its variety and its irreducibility to a unique interpretation. At first sight this view seems to deny that a scientific understanding of the economy is possible. The paper contends, however, that Caffè’s approach is consistent with recent methodological developments and with Keynes’ original intuitions whereby knowledge is founded on uncertainty and all inquiry is necessarily based on cognitive value judgments, i.e. on claims concerning how economic inquiry ought to be carried out