History of Science: What Place for Economics and Management?

Histoire de la science: quelle place pour l’économie et la gestion ?

Mouhamdy M.Dahoud ()
Additional contact information
Mouhamdy M.Dahoud: Edge Mauritanie

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: This work paper examines the place assigned to economics and management in successive classifications of knowledge, from the Aristotelian hierarchy to contemporary institutional nomenclatures, and argues that the lasting subordination of these disciplines—long relegated to the rank of uncertain arts—stems from a historical and axiological construct rather than an epistemic necessity. By re-examining the often-obscured contribution of Arab-Islamic thought—from al-Kindî to Ibn Khaldûn, including al-Dimashqî—and the subsequent transmission through scholasticism, mercantilism, and physiocracy to classical political economy, the analysis demonstrates that the scientific rationalization of economic and organizational action predates its Western institutionalization by several centuries. The requalification brought about by the sciences of the artificial, socio-technology, and Design Science Research dissolves the old hierarchy in favor of a criterion of verifiable efficacy. Finally, the article proposes a comparative analysis of Comte's and the OECD's classifications, sketches a reclassification, and concludes with three open questions.

Keywords: épistémologie de la gestion classification des sciences sciences de l'action pensée économique islamique Design Science Research; épistémologie de la gestion; classification des sciences; sciences de l'action; pensée économique islamique; Design Science Research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-14
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-05659024v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-05659024v1/document (application/pdf)

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:hal:wpaper:halshs-05659024

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().