Laudan and the Problems of Progress

Abstract

In the last two chapters Larry Laudan was mentioned in the context of criticism of Kuhn and Lakatos. In response to such criticism, Laudan has developed his own methodology which essentially seeks to synthesise the best features of Kuhn and Lakatos with his own distinctive contribution. Laudan has been virtually ignored by economists and I find this surprising for two reasons: firstly, economists have paid much attention to Kuhn and Lakatos, therefore it would seem only natural that someone who seeks to take their approaches a step further should be the object of some interest to economists; secondly, it does appear, as we shall see below, that Laudan does have something to offer economists.