ABSTRACT
Situational analysis (SA) in combination with the rationality principle (RP) in the metatheory of the human sciences is most often associated with Karl Popper (1972, 1976, 1983) and with the critique of their application in mainstream microeconomics by Spiro Latsis (1972). The metatheoretical principle involved is deceptively self-evident: in making decisions about economic actions, agents apply reason to their circumstances in pursuit of their objectives. Nonetheless, the meaning and significance in general, and in economics in particular, of this principle remains the subject of controversy (Koertge 1975, 1979; Latsis 1983; Hands 1991; Nadeau 1993; Lagueux 1993).
