Rational deconstruction of rational reconstruction

Abstract

Imre Lakatos´ impressive historiographical methodology has served as the foundation of several works in the history of science. The method is closely related to his philosophy of science, the so called methodology of scientific research programmes. This paper attempts to provide a criticism of the Lakatosian method by providing a detailed analysis of a historical case study from the field of the history of economic thought, namely Philip Mirowski´s thesis concerning the impact of physics on the marginalist revolution in economics. I will reconstruct Mirowski´s reconstruction explicitly in Lakatosian terms and show that the consistent application of Lakatos´ historiography leads to contradictions.