Meanings and spreading patterns of the “positive” concept in economic thought

Angela Rogojanu and George Şerban-Oprescu
Additional contact information
Angela Rogojanu: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies
George Şerban-Oprescu: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Theoretical and Applied Economics, 2013, vol. XX, issue 3(580), 83-102

Abstract: A brief retrospective on economic thought reveals that, in the quest for the scientific status of their research, economists had to refine not only their research methods, but even the economic language itself. The use and, sometimes, the abuse of the “positive” concept in present economic discourse are clear proofs that the constant changes of economic language mark significantly economic science. Coined by Auguste Comte, who denied the very existence of economic science, the “positive” concept has become for a significant part of economists a keyterm that guarantees and emphasizes the scientific status of their research. Alternatively, an important body of scholars seems to provide a different meaning for this concept and uses it in order to reveal economic facts, more precisely, economic growth. One who is not very familiar with the methodology of economics might be confused by these different meanings hidden in a single term. In this context, the present paper aims to bring more light into this issue by providing both an epistemological analysis of “positive” term and a sketch of spreading patterns of this concept via scientific publications. Consequently, the research follows two major well-defined paths: 1) the epistemological analysis of various meanings related to the “positive” term and 2) the quantitative study of occurrences in which this concept is used and cited in economic journals with high ISI citation index.

Keywords: positive; epistemology; economic language. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://store.ectap.ro/articole/842.pdf (application/pdf)
http://www.ectap.ro/articol.php?id=842&rid=96 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:agr:journl:v:xx:y:2013:i:3(580):p:83-102

Access Statistics for this article

Theoretical and Applied Economics is currently edited by Mircea Dinu

More articles in Theoretical and Applied Economics from Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mircea Dinu ().