METHODOLOGICAL INDIVIDUALISM IN CARL MENGER: AN EVALUATION

Authors : Hüseyin ÖZEL

Pages : 47-69

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Publication Date : 1998-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Although Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian school af economics, is known as a leading figure in the "marginal revolution,' his views an the methodology of economics deserve even more attention. In particular, the two very foundations of the Austrian school, namely subjectivism and methodological individualism, directly come from Menger. In this paper, after briefly pointing out the subjectivist elements in Menger's economic analysis, I examine Menger*s views on the methodology of economics, which takes methodological individualism as the main basis, and evaluate both his version of individualism and one of the attempts, made by Ludwig Lachmann, to provide rigorous foundations to Menger's arguments, It is argued in this paper that both of these versions exhibit the same inconsistency between methodological individualism and the hypothesis of unintended consequences of intentional human behavior, which has generally been used as an argument in favor of the methodological individualistic social theory.
Keywords : Carl menger, methodological individualism, austrian economics school