An assumption needed to apply the pure logic of choice to others is that they undertake purposeful behavior. In principle, it could be conceivable that other people who externally seem to act purposefully, simply act by instinct or in a mechanical way or randomly.
The assumption can not be falsified since the hypothesis that mind is the ultimate first praxeologically relevant cause of decision is not itself external or material.
It has to be accepted that, in this respect, the pure logic of choice with respect to others lays on an act of faith.
It has to be taken into account, that the praxeologist not only believes, as Milton Friedman's instrumentalism would be fully pleased to require, that agents behave as if they would have a purpuse, but believes that they actually behave in such a way.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
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I think that the key contention in the Friedman`s paper The Methodology of Positive Economics is that if the reality behaves as if the assumptions are true or if the assumptions are actually true is irrelevant, as long as the theory successfully predicts what is going to happen. This irrelevance is due, I think, to the fact that Friedman is not concerned with explanation (what actually happens) but with forecasting (in which case, a realistic explanation is irrelevant as long as the theory successfully predicts).
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