The Instrumentalisms of Dewey and Friedman
Ironic perplexities seem to pervade economic science-both in theory and in methodology. In the theoretical domain, the allegedly micro-oriented Chicago School increasingly pursues the highly aggregative rational expectations hypothesis. Furthermore, it is the supposedly macro-oriented post-Keynesians who investigate the microfoundations and who originate policy proposals with significant institutional detail.1 In the methodological domain, there is ostensibly a similar reversal of intellectual sensitivities. Milton Friedman's essay on positive economicswritten as a repudiation of institutional economics-has recently been reinterpreted as an instrumentalist philosophy of economic science.2 The institutional school has philosophical roots in the instrumental philosophy of John Dewey. The purpose of this article is to compare the instrumentalist views of Friedman and Dewey. The argument suggests that while Friedman has not reversed his methodological position, his views can be interpreted, in a philosophical sense, as a special case of Dewey's.