Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

TLDR

Economic theory literature is abundant, yet its methodology remains underdeveloped and lacks a clear developmental path, largely borrowing from mature physical science practices. The analogy to physical science breaks down precisely where social science must innovate new concepts and structures.

Abstract

The literature of economic theory, like that of philosophy, abounds in prefaces and prolegomena. Methodology and analysis of concepts take an important place in a science which has not found the sure path of development. But there is no sure path for methodology either. The selfconscious methodology of social science has been largely a borrowing from that of physical science, where procedures have developed to a stage of considerable maturity. But the analogy falls down where guidance is most needed, at the points where social science is most likely to develop new concepts and new types of structure. Philosophers have not been lacking, indeed, to belittle the entire enterprise, and to deny the possibility of anything that could strictly be called social science.