Contents

Preface x

Acknowledgments xi

1 Introduction 1

1.1 A new view of scientific theories 3

1.2 The ª-view in action: an example 7

1.3 Problems of the ª-view 9

2 Models and structures 13

2.1 The rise of the concept of structure 13

2.2 Models for first-order logic 14

2.3 Elementary classes in economics 19

2.4 Theory of classes 25

2.5 The general concept of structure 30

3 The structuralist view of theories 35

3.1 Origins 35

3.2 The concept and relevance of a metatheory 35

3.3 The ways of theoretical practice 38

3.4 A dialogue between the L-view and the ª-view 38

3.5 The structuralist view of theories 48

4 Idealization and concretization 55

4.1 Motivation 55

4.2 Empirical structures 57

4.3 Construction of idealized models 59

4.4 Concretization 65

5 Measurement 69

5.1 The nature of measurement 69

5.2 Representational measurement 72

5.3 Measurement by means of theory 74

5.4 Measurement without theory 78

6 A general concept of an economy 82

6.1 Fixing the reference of economic theories 82

6.2 A general concept of an economic system 82

7 Preference and utility 90

7.1 Introduction 90

7.2 The conditions of Debreu and Mas-Colell 92

7.3 Motivation 93

7.4 The algebraic theory of difference 94

7.5 The geometric theory of difference 97

7.6 The theory of preference 106

7.7 The empirical meaning of differentiability 107

7.8 New foundations of preference theory 111

8 Thelogicalstructureofgametheory 114

8.1 Introduction 114

8.2 Finding the (lost) beings, stories and narratives 115

8.3 Conceptual prolegomena 116

8.4 Concepts of strategy 117

8.5 Probability spaces induced by behavioral strategies 119

8.6 The equilibrium concept 123

8.7 The game concept 125

8.8 Empirical applicability of gt 129

9 Abstract labor and labor-value 132

9.1 Introduction 132

9.2 Abstract labor 134

9.3 Market-determination of abstract labor 140

9.4 Labor-value 145

9.5 The meaning and relevance of abstract labor 153

10 Classical economics 155

10.1 Introduction 155

10.2 The fundamental Marxian theorem 156

10.3 General equilibrium 160

10.4 Equilibrium 163

10.5 The empirical claim 172

Contents ix

11 The logical structure of Sraffian economic theory 174

11.1 Introduction 174

11.2 The conceptual framework 174

11.3 The basic theory-element 177

11.4 The standard commodity 179

11.5 The empirical claim 180

11.6 What can/ought be done? 181

12 The logical structure of econometrics 182

12.1 Motivation 182

12.2 Real concrete dgps 183

12.3 Random experiments 184

12.4 Probability spaces 185

12.5 Random variables 189

12.6 Conditional probability as fundamental 191

12.7 From conditional to absolute probability 194

12.8 Statistical inference 195

12.9 The logical structure of econometrics 196

References 199

Author Index 207

Subject Index 211