Poe on the Limits of the Sciences
Ira Katz "eloquent libertarian and Austrian economic insights are to be found in" his writings — Edgar Allan Poe and the Purloined Social Science. A character offers "the example of morals which is a branch of praxeology as is economics" and "thus recognizes that branches of science, the so-called social sciences, which study human actions, are not susceptible to mathematical calculation."
Labels: America the Beautiful, American History, Scientism, The Dismal Science, The Written Word
3 Comments:
"... recognizes that branches of science, the so-called social sciences, which study human actions, are not susceptible to mathematical calculation."
1) Um yes they are. See here e.g.:
http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521674102
2) How is a science that fails to make sharp, daring predictions a science? I don't think you could define science.
Phrenology for the 21st Century. The human mind is beyond the complexity horizon, so is life itself.
I read the article, and wondered if our nameless friend hasn't proven the point exactly.
What, given a purloined letter, would be his principle of action?
S. Cornett
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