ABSTRACT
In outlining overall conceptions of the discipline of economics or political economy from the founding Austrian point of view, methodological issues cannot be avoided, although we intend to give them only a background role in this chapter. Questions of methodology-relating to theory-construction and theory evaluation-have tended to dominate discussion of the historiography of the Austrian School. Here we shall take a different approach. Particular philosophical and methodological issues raised by Menger, Wieser and Böhm-Bawerk are best examined in relation to their context. That is, we will find it more fruitful to remark on the implications of early Austrian philosophy and methodology for the construction of specific aspects of Austrian economic theory treated in the following chapters.
