Intuitive Economics: The Role of Power and Knowledge in the Dismal Science

Abstract

Recent disputes over the epistemological nature of social science inquiry, often referred to as “Science Wars”, display many of the hallmarks of a much older, largely forgotten quarrel in social science: The Methodenstreit of Economics ‐ pitting the Austrian School of Economics against the German Historical School in the 1880s ‐ has largely remained unresolved to date, despite several attempts to overcome it. Yet, curiously, these e orts seem overlooked and outside of the current battlefield of the science wars, where much of the debate is shaped by contemporary political theory. While critical theory, poststructuralism and postmodernism are leaving distinct marks on the sociological research agenda, mainstream economic theory seems impervious to similar much-needed developments. Revisiting Edgar Salin’s concept of Anschauliche Theorie (intuitive theory) and putting it into context with power and knowledge presents a useful starting point for rekindling this debate in the dismal science. Indeed, a recasting of these ideas in the form of intuitive economics might constitute a central element in a broader framework aimed at overcoming the lack of vision in contemporary economic theory.