ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses any doubt that supporting pluralism in economics makes it unscientific. It is argued that it is inevitable that different ideas will co-exist in economics, not just about theory, but also as to what constitutes reliable knowledge. Different approaches understand the evidence of experience differently and apply different types of logic to it. Fostering this plurality makes economic knowledge more reliable, illuminating different aspects of a complex, evolving reality, while forcing economists to recognise the limitations of their chosen approach, and to explain and defend that approach in debate. As a corollary, restricting economics to one approach is a less reliable basis for knowledge of the economy.
