3 Issues in history and philosophy of science with implications for economics

In order to provide firm foundations for social ecological economics a basic understanding of issues relevant to developing scientific knowledge is required. This chapter provides an overview of the history and philosophy of modern science as it developed in Europe and then spread. Following the historical overview, it proceeds to a more detailed explanation of logical empiricism, as developed by the Vienna Circle, not least because empirical claims have been core to environmentalism, but also because of the general tendency to refer to 'positivism' as if this were some unified singular school of thought. Officially, economists follow a rigorous and scientific epistemological approach connected to logical empiricism. This sets a procedure for gaining knowledge on the basis of logical deductive theory development, leading to hypotheses which are meant to be empirically tested by observation, resulting in validation (whether verification, falsification or confirmation) - the hypothetico-deductive methodology.