Abstract Hypotheses and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judgements in Economic Science

Abstract

The author studies the differences between abstract hypotheses and uniformities and empirical-historical uniformities in the field of economic science, distinguishing those that are valid sub specie aeternitatis but within the limits of the premises that have been established, from those which cannot be extended, except with great caution, beyond the time and place considered. Do the models of the different types of state proposed by economists for the study of financial affairs belong to the category of abstract or historical tools of investigation? The concept of a state which, in pursuit of its own ends, focuses only on the individual or only the collective community, is logically incoherent. And finally, the economist’s decision to refrain from value judgements, which is legitimate if motivated by the scientific division of labour, but illogical from the perspective of the more general quest for truth.

First published as ‘Ipotesi astratte ed ipotesi storiche e dei giudizi di valore nelle scienze economiche’, Atti dell’Accademia delle scienze di Torino, 1942–3.