IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jecmet/v20y2013i3p237-243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How fictional accounts can explain

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Sugden

Abstract

In this note, I comment on Julian Reiss's paper 'The explanation paradox'. I argue in support of two of the propositions that make up that paradox (that economic models are false, and that they are explanatory) but challenge the third proposition, that only true accounts can explain. I defend the 'credible worlds' account of models as fictions that are explanatory by virtue of similarity relations with real-world phenomena. I argue that Reiss's objections to the role of subjective similarity judgements in explanation illegitimately presuppose the existence of rational criteria by which science can certify the objective validity of its explanation.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Sugden, 2013. "How fictional accounts can explain," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 237-243, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:20:y:2013:i:3:p:237-243
    DOI: 10.1080/1350178X.2013.828872
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/1350178X.2013.828872
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/1350178X.2013.828872?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Łukasz Hardt, 2023. "On the Modelling Method in Adam Smith’s Economic Thought," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 3-18.
    2. Thoma, Johanna, 2016. "On the hidden thought experiments of economic theory," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88156, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Michael Joffe, 2017. "Causal theories, models and evidence in economics—some reflections from the natural sciences," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1280983-128, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:20:y:2013:i:3:p:237-243. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.