ABSTRACT
As soon as they landed on the seashores of economics, the positivist invaders proselytised among the natives: the creed of exhaustive quantification was supposed to define what was to be considered legitimate science, expelling metaphysics and sorcery. This drive towards quantification interpreted the mood of the time, marking the emergence of modern science. It could consequently claim the influence of prestigious ancestors who, like Bacon, ruled that what counts is what can be counted.1 Burn sophistry, insisted David Hume:
When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume – of divinity or scholar metaphysics, for instance – let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames for it contains nothing but sophistry and illusion.
