1, the theoretical paradigm of economics
The concept and theory of paradigm was put forward by Thomas, a famous American philosopher of science. Kuhn put forward and systematically expounded it in The Structure of Scientific Revolution (1962).
Since the concept of paradigm is the center of Kuhn's whole philosophy of science, he tried to generalize and describe real science in many fields, not just interested in the history of science and philosophy, so he defined and explained the concept of paradigm from different aspects, levels and angles. Many people don't pay attention to this characteristic of Kuhn's thought, and often cite an explanation of Kuhn to explain their problems according to their own needs.
So some deviations are inevitable. British scholar Margaret. Masterman made a systematic study of Kuhn's paradigm view. (1987) He listed 2 1 paradigms with different meanings used by Kuhn from the structure of scientific revolution, and summarized them into three types or three aspects: First, as a belief, it is a metaphysical speculation, a philosophical paradigm or a meta-paradigm.
Second, as a scientific habit, an academic tradition and a concrete scientific achievement, it is a sociological paradigm; Thirdly, as a tool for successful argumentation, a method for solving problems, and an image of analogy, it is an artificial paradigm or a constructive paradigm. Although the primary significance of paradigm lies in philosophy, which is also the basic part of Kuhn's paradigm, Kuhn's originality and uniqueness lies in the sociological significance and structural function of paradigm.
2. Empirical analysis and normative analysis
Empirical analysis and normative analysis are an important aspect of economic methodology and a controversial issue. On the one hand, traditional economics emphasizes the theoretical research of seeking truth from facts, on the other hand, it puts value judgment in the primary and core position, which leads us astray, which is also the reason why we have made progress in discussing this issue.
3. About the case study
Case study has a long history, which is the most widely used and effective in the research of medicine, law and sociology. It is rare in economic research, and even less in domestic economic circles.
Neo-classical economics ignores the analysis of facts and processes and is ridiculed by Coase as "blackboard economics" (199 1). Its mathematicization and engineering tendency make it break away from the original meaning of economics.
The traditional socialist political economy is even worse. Its research method is that, except for some actual investigation reports, it focuses on conceptual reasoning and logical deduction, without any hypothesis or empirical test. Naturally, there are few decent case studies, and the ratio of facts is large and low. The defects of research methods have plunged it into a profound crisis.
The development and modernization of China's economics must make progress and breakthrough in methods and methodology, among which, developing and attaching importance to case studies is an important aspect.