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John Stuart Mill's Method In Principle and Practice: A Review of the Evidence

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  • Hollander, Samuel
  • Peart, Sandra

Abstract

Our concern is John Stuart Mill's methodological pronouncements, his actual practice, and the relationship between them. We argue that verification played a key role in Mill's method, both in principle and in practice. Our starting point is the celebrated declaration regarding verification in the essay On the Definition of Political Economy; and on the Method of Investigation Proper to It (1836/ 1967; hereafter Essay): “By the method à priori we mean … reasoning from an assumed hypothesis; which … is the essence of all science which admits of general reasoning at all. To verify the hypothesis itself à posteriori, that is, to examine whether the facts of any actual case are in accordance with it, is no part of the business of science at all, but of the application of science†(Mill 1836/1967, p. 325). The apparent position that the basic economic theory is impervious to predictive failure emerges also in a sharp criticism of the à posteriori method:

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  • Hollander, Samuel & Peart, Sandra, 1999. "John Stuart Mill's Method In Principle and Practice: A Review of the Evidence," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 369-397, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jhisec:v:21:y:1999:i:04:p:369-397_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Bee, Michele & Desmarais-Tremblay, Maxime, 2023. "The Birth Of Homo Œconomicus: The Methodological Debate On The Economic Agent From J. S. Mill To V. Pareto," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(1), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Michel Zouboulakis, 2001. "From Mill to Weber: the meaning of the concept of economic rationality," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 30-41.
    3. Vitantonio Gioia, 2020. "From “prudent man” to homo oeconomicus: Does historicity matter for the category of individualism?," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(1), pages 47-67, March.

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