Power as an epistemological obstacle: Walter Eucken’s quest for an interest-proof economic science

Abstract

ABSTRACT Walter Eucken’s methodological program is usually related to the search for a meaningful synthesis between the general-theoretical and the individual-historical aspects of economic life. Yet, overcoming this ‘great antinomy’ was only a step in achieving the vital methodological task Eucken assigned to economists: answering the challenge raised by power issues. The paper shows why and how Eucken aimed at overcoming an epistemological obstacle consisting of the ideological veil placed by power groups over reality to favour their own interests. The introduction of this epistemological obstacle in Eucken’s methodological program is crucial for three reasons. First, it sheds light on another aspect of Eucken’s dissatisfaction with the Historical School, regarding both the Methodenstreit and Schmoller’s ethical postulate. Second, it contextualizes Eucken’s normative programme within the Weberian enterprise for a value-free science. Third, it shows that the ordoliberals’ politics regarding the dispersion of power was actually rooted in specific methodological foundations.