IS DEBREU,GERARD A DEDUCTIVIST - COMMENTARY ON LAWSON,TONY ECONOMICS AND REALITY

Tony Lawson has argued that the methodology of neoclassical economics is deductivist: in constructing their formal models, economists hope t o be able to provide explanations based on laws, as described by the d eductive-nomological model of explanation. This article argues in cont rast that neoclassical economics cannot be understood as following jus t one methodology. It is argued that neoclassicism exhibits two method ologies, one ''official'' and one tacit. The former is empiricist, and corresponds to the practice that has been described by Lawson. The la tter, which can be called ''hypothetico-deductive rationalism'', amoun ts to the position that knowledge of the world can be obtained without any empirical verification of one's assumptions, simply by exploring the implications of the assumptions one makes.