How does the economy work? A new Fed paper suggests nobody really knows

Re:How does the economy work? A new Fed paper suggests nobod... by rsj_hn on Sunday October 03, 2021 @07:27PM (#28741452)

A good rule of thumb is that fields which style themselves by adding "science" to their name are not sciences. An economist friend of mine told me that, and it stuck. In fact if you are a physicist you don't go around insisting to people that you are a scientist and what you do is science and if they disagree with you they are anti-science. You just say "hey, this is physics".

So far, this rule of thumb has not let me down.

FYI, you may want to read Feynman's lecture on Cargo Cult Science -- that is avoiding the trappings of science while not actually having the rigour and intellectual honesty of true science. A good link is here: https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm

I enjoy economics, political science, anthropology, sociology, etc, but they are most definately not science.

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Re:How does the economy work? A new Fed paper suggests nobod... by lottin on Monday October 04, 2021 @02:56AM (#28743881)

> good rule of thumb is that fields which style themselves by adding "science" to their name are not sciences

And this is your whole argument?

Isn't physics a "natural science" and therefore not science according your rule of thumb.

This discussion is stupid. If you want to argue that social sciences are not science, all you have to do is show that social sciences don't follow the scientific methodology. If you can't show that, you should shut up and stop wasting everybody's time.

[ Parent | on HN ]