ABSTRACT
Roger Backhouse and Steve Medema have rightly claimed that ‘economists are far from unanimous about the definition of their subject’ (2009: 223). Paradoxical as it may sound, after thorough research, I have concluded that the best approaches to the definition and classification of economic sciences were developed in the nineteenth century by Mill, Menger and Neville Keynes, ‘methodological pioneers’ of economic science, classically labelled at the time as ‘political economy’. This chapter will begin by analysing the thought of these nineteenth-century methodological precursors, concluding with a proposal for the classification of the economic sciences based on their combined ideas. Then, it will outline what has happened during the twentieth century. Third, it will show how a combination of different notions of rationality which are wider than the narrow vision already mentioned – instrumental maximizing rationality – leaves room for a plurality of economic sciences converging with the precursors’ ideas. Next, the meaning of the maximizing principle will be clarified. Finally, the chapter will determine the tasks to be performed by the different economic sciences.
