In this paper, the author of How Economics Became a Mathematical Science (Duke University Press, 2002) responds to four papers (from Paul Davidson, Sheila Dow, Donald Katzner,and J. Barkley Rosser Jr.) written for a symposium on his book. In addition to specific responses to points raised by the...

While methodological sciences have no object and are supposed to adopt a hypothetical-deductive method, substantive sciences, including economics, should use an empirical or historical-deductive method. The great classical economists and Keynes did that and were able to develop open models...

Weintraub's study shows that mathematics does not provide a fixed point of reference for economics. He explains how the notions of rigor and consistency have changed within mathematics over the years, and how it has proved impossible to express mathematics itself as a complete formal system. As...