On Latsis’s Method and Appraisal in Economics: A Review Essay

In September 1974 there took place, at Nafplion in Greece, a gratifyingly small but distinguished conference of a somewhat unusual nature. Its object was to examine the general grounds of appraisal of the status and the progress of scientific theories, particularly with reference to the views of the late Imre Lakatos embodied in his conception of the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes as developed in his notable contribution to the Symposium Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, edited by himself and Alan Musgrave [5, 1970]. But instead of ascending into the stratosphere of pure speculation, the organizers of the conference decided to focus their principal attention on two fields, the history of physical science and economics respectively; and by concentrating on theories and progress in these subjects to bring greater concreteness to the discussion of the general problem. This volume, splendidly edited by one of the principal organizers and contributors to the conference, Dr. Spiro Latsis, embodies the papers contributed and evoked by the sessions devoted to economics. A companion volume, Method and Appraisal in the Physical Sciences, edited by Colin Howson [2, 1976], does the same thing for the other sessions. Together they are records of an occasion that I personally found more stimulating than any other conference I have ever attended.