The Disciplines of Economics

Hume described the aim of his path-breaking A Treatise of Human Nature as “being an attempt to introduce the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects” (see Hume 1739 [1978] subtitle). As used by Hume the term “experimental” should not be interpreted in the sense of controlled experiments but more broadly in the sense of “experiental” or “experience based”.

Economics is a “moral science” to the extent that it is experiental. However, what kind of experience matters and how this experience itself is constituted is open.