Routledge Handbook of Macroeconomic Methodology

3 Instrumentalism

J. Daniel Hammond

DOI: 10.4324/9781315745992-5

Introduction

Instrumentalism is a philosophy of science that developed in the 20th century but has roots in the early modern period. A succinct definition of instrumentalism is the belief that scientific theories are merely instruments, practical devices, for organising empirical (observational) data and drawing implications from empirical data for other empirical data. The modifier merely is stressed, for according to instrumentalism, theories are not descriptions of the subject matter of the science. Theoretical statements are in this sense meaningless and not subject to tests of any sort for their truth or falsity. The only test of a theory therefore is whether it is useful ...