On Schumpeter’s 'The Past and Future of Social Sciences'. A Schumpeterian Theory of Scientific Development?

Lucarelli, Stefano and Baron, Hervé (2014): On Schumpeter’s 'The Past and Future of Social Sciences'. A Schumpeterian Theory of Scientific Development?

Abstract

The present paper, taking the cue from the Italian translation of Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Sozialwissenschaften (The Past and Future of Social Sciences), a Schumpeter’s book which was not always well understood in the literature, tries to pose some questions about Schumpeter’s work. Firstly: is it possible, starting from that book, to reconstruct a Schumpeterian theory of scientific development? Subsequently: is Vergangenheit und Zukunft only «a brief outline of what first became the Epochen [der Dogmen– und Methodengeschichte] and finally the History of Economic Analysis», as Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter wrote in the Editor’s Introduction (July 1952) to the History of Economic Analysis (p. XXXII), or should it be read as a complement of Epochen and, possibly, History? Lastly: is it correct to say that Schumpeter’s work had the ambitious objective of developing a ‘comprehensive sociology’ as the eminent Japanese scholar Shionoya did?

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Schumpeter, social sciences, method, scientific development.
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B25 - Historical ; Institutional ; Evolutionary ; Austrian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B3 - History of Economic Thought: Individuals > B31 - Individuals; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology > B41 - Economic Methodology

References

Boody Schumpeter, E. (2006[1954]), ‘Editor’s Introduction’, of: Schumpeter J. A., History of Economic Analysis, op. cit.: XXX-XXXVII.

da Graça Moura, M. (2003), ‘Schumpeter on the integration of theory and history’, European Journal of History of Economic Thought, 10(2): 279–301.

da Graça Moura, M. (2002), ‘Metatheory as the key to understanding: Schumpeter after Shionoya’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 26(6): 805-821.

De Vecchi, N. (1995), Entrepreneurs, Institutions and Economic Change: The Economic Thought of Joseph Schumpeter (1905-1925), Aldershot and Brookfield, Vermont, Edward Elgar.

Gagliardi, F. (1998). Kant e il problema dell’ontologia (Kant and the Problem of Ontology), Gaeta, Bibliotheca.

Haberler, G. (1950), ‘Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950)’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIV(3): 333-372.

Kesting, P. (2006), ‘The interdependence between economic analysis and methodology in the work of Joseph A. Schumpeter’, , European Journal of History of Economic Thought, 13(3): 387-410.

Kesting, P. (2005), ‘Vision, revolution, and classical situation: Schumpeter’s theory of scientific development’, History of Economic Review, 41(1): 77-97.

Leontief, W. (1950), ‘Joseph A. Schumpeter (1883-1950)’, Econometrica, 18(2): 103-110.

Machlup, F. (1951), ‘Schumpeter’s Economic Methodology’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 33(2): 145-151.

Schumpeter, J. A. (2006[1954]), History of Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis e-Library. Original edition: New York, Oxford University Press.

Schumpeter, J. A. (1949), ‘Science and Ideology’, The American Economic Review, 39(2): 346-359.

Schumpeter, J. A. (1961 [1926]), The Theory of Economic Development, Cambridge (MA), Harvard University Press. English Translation of Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, 2nd edition München und Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot.

Schumpeter J. A. (2014[1915]), Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Sozialwissenschaften, San Bernardino (CA), Reprints from the collection of University of Michigan Library. Original edition: München und Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot.

Schumpeter, J. A. (1954[1914]), Economic Doctrine and Method. An Historical Sketch, New York, Oxford University Press. Original edition: ‘Epochen der Dogmen– und Methodengeschichte’, in: Grundriss der Sozialökonomik. I. Abteilung, Wirtschaft und Wirtschaftswissenschaft, J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen: 19-124.

Schumpeter, J. A. (2011[1911]), ‘The View of Economy as a Whole’, in: The Entrepreneur. Classic Texts by Joseph A. Schumpeter, Stanford (CA), Stanford University Press: 155-226.

Schumpeter, J. A. (2011[1911]), ‘The Fundamental Phenomenon of Economic Development’, in: The Entrepreneur. Classic Texts by Joseph A. Schumpeter, Stanford (CA), Stanford University Press: 79-154.

Schumpeter, J. A. (1908), Das Wesen und der Hauptinhalt der theoretischen Nationalökonomie, Berlin, Duncker und Humblot.

Shionoya, Y. (2009), ‘The History of Economics as Economics’, European Journal of History of Economic Thought, 16(4): 575-597.

Shionoya, Y. (2005), ‘Schumpeter on the Relationship between Economics and Sociology from the Perspective of Doctrinal History’, in: Id., The Soul of the German Historical School, New York, Springer: 163-178.

Shionoya, Y. (2004), ‘Scope and Method of Schumpeter’s Universal Social Science: Economic Sociology, Instrumentalism, and Rhetoric’, Journal of History of Economic Thought, 26(3): 331-347.

Shionoya, Y. (1997), Schumpeter and the Idea of Social Science: A Metatheoretical Study, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Shionoya, Y. (1990), ‘Instrumentalism in Schumpeter’s economic methodology’, History of Political Economy, 22(2): 187-222.

Swedberg, R. (1991), Joseph A. Schumpeter. His Life and Work, Princeton, Princeton University Press.

Zanini A. (2008), Economic Philosophy. Economic Foundations and Political Categories, Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien, Peter Lang.