HISTORY-ECONOMIC THOUGHT

QUESTION 1

1. In the second paragraph on page 101, Bacon "gives a word of general counsel” that what one’s mind dwells upon should be held in suspicion.  What is he saying and why is this important?

QUESTION 2

1. In his discussion of Descartes, Sedlacek discusses the role of assumptions in scientific theories.  What is that role?  What kinds of assumptions can cause problems?

QUESTION 3

1. In his book Economics, Paul Samuelson promises “scientific knowledge, free from doubt, free from metaphysics, morals, and personal conviction.”  This is what Descartes tried to do for science in general.  Was he successful?  (see Chapter 5 in Sedlacek)

QUESTION 4

1. From your Backhouse reading, Describe Popper’s Falsification approach to the Scientific Method.  How does it differ from Kuhn’s Paradigm approach?  Are all well accepted paradigm’s falsifiable theories?  What must happen for a new falsifiable theory to become an accepted paradigm?

 In addition to Sedlacek Ch 5 and Backhouse Chapters 6 & 7 please also read the short excerpt on Francis Bacon (You might want to read that first sincehe was the firsd to write on the scientific method.