Synopses & Reviews
The Organization of Inquiry, the third volume in Liberty Funds The Selected Works of Gordon Tullock, was originally published by Duke University Press in 1966. This is a treatise by one of the most stalwart practitioners of the scientific method in political economy--Gordon Tullock. Charles K. Rowley, Duncan Black Professor of Economics at George Mason University, writes in his introduction to this book, From a purely technical perspective, this book stands out as his (Tullock's) best-written single authored work. The book sets out his own views on scientific method--views that he would faithfully reflect in all of his subsequent scholarship.”
In this book, Tullock focuses attention on the organization of science, raising important questions about scientific inquiry and specifically about the problems of science as a social system. Tullock poses such questions as: how do scientists engage in apparently cooperative contributions in the absence of hierarchic organization and why are scientific contributions worthy, for the most part, of the publics trust? Throughout The Organization of Inquiry, he sets out to answer these questions and many more through a pioneering exploration of the interrelationship between economics and the philosophy of science, much of which defied then conventional wisdom.
Anyone interested in any scientific endeavor will find the combination of Tullocks powerful logic, his sharp forensic skills, and his barbed wit completely elucidating and helpful to their pursuits.
Charles K. Rowley is Duncan Black Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow of the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy at George Mason University. He is also General Director of the Locke Institute.
The entire series includes:
Volume 1: Virginia Political Economy
Volume 2: The Calculus of Consent
Volume 3: The Organization of Inquiry (November 2004)
Volume 4: The Economics of Politics (February 2005)
Volume 5: The Rent-Seeking Society (March 2005)
Volume 6: Bureaucracy (June 2005)
Volume 7: The Economics and Politics of Wealth Redistribution (July 2005)
Volume 8: The Social Dilemma: Of Autocracy, Revolution, Coup d'Etat, and War (December 2005)
Volume 9: Law and Economics (December 2005)
Volume 10: Economics without Frontiers (January 2006)
Synopsis
The Organization of Inquiry, the third volume in Liberty Fund's The Selected Works of Gordon Tullock, was originally published by Duke University Press in 1966. This is a treatise by one of the most stalwart practitioners of the scientific method in political economy--Gordon Tullock. Charles K. Rowley, Duncan Black Professor of Economics at George Mason University, writes in his introduction to this book, "From a purely technical perspective, this book stands out as his Tullock's] best-written single authored work. The book sets out his own views on scientific method--views that he would faithfully reflect in all of his subsequent scholarship."
In this book, Tullock focuses attention on the organization of science, raising important questions about scientific inquiry and specifically about the problems of science as a social system. Tullock poses such questions as how do scientists engage in apparently cooperative contributions in the absence of hierarchic organization and why are scientific contributions worthy, for the most part, of the public's trust? Throughout The Organization of Inquiry, he sets out to answer these questions and many more through a pioneering exploration of the interrelationship between economics and the philosophy of science, much of which defied then conventional wisdom.
Anyone interested in any scientific endeavor will find the combination of Tullock's powerful logic, his sharp forensic skills, and his barbed wit completely elucidating and helpful to their pursuits.
Gordon Tullock is Professor Emeritus of Law at George Mason University, where he was Distinguished Research Fellow in the Center for Study of Public Choice and University Professor of Law and Economics. He also taught at the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, Rice University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of Arizona. In 1966 he founded the journal that became Public Choice and remained its editor until 1990.
Charles K. Rowley was Duncan Black Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow of the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy at George Mason University. He was also General Director of the Locke Institute.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
by Charles K. Rowley ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xix
I The Social Organization of Science 3
II Why Inquire? 10
III The Subject and Methods of Inquiry 33
IV Data Collection 55
V The Problem of Induction 88
VI Verification and Dissemination 107
VII The Backwardness of the Social Sciences 135
VIII Practical Suggestions 159
Index 185