Brief study of the economic method

the origins of the dominant paradigm, the Friedman's positivism and the rhetoric in McCloskey

Abstract

This article analyzes the epistemology of economic science, as well as the origin of its methodology. The objective is to review the organization of economic thought on its scientific character, reviewing its origins and evolution. To this end, some influencing concepts to science development and Neoclassical Paradigm are treated, crystallized in Friedman's proposal. Is also observed one alternative form to the preponderant economic method, McCloskey’s idea of the rhetoric of science. Through historical and bibliographic review, it was concluded that in Economics a “normal science” prevails, in the Kuhnian perspective, guided and limited by Neoclassical researching rules, in which rhetoric presents itself as a viable alternative of scientific method for being able to understand the dominant version.