Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the question of whether one should focus on the idea of ultimate truth in a science like economics or whether one should merely try to understand and investigate truth as a revelation about how the world works. The paper also addresses the ontological issue of what reality actually is. It holds that the science of economics involves trying to solve problems as rationally and logically consistent as possible, while being aware of the possibility of being wrong. The paper concludes that, in order to understand how the world works, one has to find a practical hermeneutical approach to get as close to ultimate truth as feasible.

Outline:
Introduction
Truth and the Role of Epistemology
Truth and Its Recognizability
The Truth Alone
Truth and the Study of Economics

From the Paper:

"One may argue that truth is what is observable, as favoured by the philosopher Bacon (Klamer, 2006). At first hand this approach sounds logically consistent. It relies on induction. According to the positivist approach, what is empirically proven and thus observable is true (Klamer, 2006). As already Socrates figured out there is no direct knowledge of reality and we can only observe indirectly. Thus, what we see is biased and represents only a slice of reality (Klamer, 2006). Hence, induction alone is troublesome as no scientist is omniscient. Consequently, the claim to have seen and thus observed everything is illusory."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bowerman & O'Connell (2003). Business Statistics in Practice (3rd ed.) New York: Mc Graw-Hill.
• Klamer, Arjo (2006). Speaking of Economics. How to get in the conversation. London: Routledge.
• Perloff, J.M. (2004). Microeconomics (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Addison Wesley.
• Philips Case (2005). Case Study Philips CEE. September-October 2005, Organisation Marketing (course 101BE) Maastricht: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Maastricht University.

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