Method in Economic Theory

Stephen F. Frowen

Chapter 18 in Business, Time and Thought, 1988, pp 209-219 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Choice of method must be guided by purpose. What is our purpose in conceiving economic theory? Our field of study is encompassed by the word Business. In business, something is all the time going on. This going on, this unceasing and ever-present transience, is part of our perception of time. The notions of time and of business, when this latter word is used in the abstract, are intimately conjoined. If we make business embrace the whole of the natural and the human world, business and time are identified. For us, business refers to what humans do. But this limitation does not exempt it from its nature, its essence, as something which, without time, would not exist, would not be there for us to observe, and would be nothing. This time-ness of business, this impregnation with part of the ultimate, elemental mystery, must overwhelmingly provide its character, make it what it is. Method in economic theory must start by considering time.

Keywords: Economic Theory; Gambling Casino; Individual Mind; Perfect Competition; Fixed List (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1988
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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-08100-4_18

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