Hermeneutics and Phenomenology in the Social Sciences: Lessons from the Austrian School of Economics Case

Zanotti, Gabriel J.; Borella, Agustina; Cachanosky, Nicolas

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3596226

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Hermeneutics and Phenomenology in the Social Sciences: Lessons from the Austrian School of Economics Case

(forthcoming) The Review of Austrian Economics

24 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2020 Last revised: 23 Apr 2021

See all articles by Gabriel J. Zanotti

Nicolas Cachanosky

University of Texas at El Paso; American Institute for Economic Research; UCEMA Friedman-Hayek Center for the Study of a Free Society

Date Written: May 8, 2020

Abstract

We study a case that applies hermeneutics to social sciences, in particular to the Austrian school of economics. We argue that an inaccurate treatment of hermeneutics contributed to an epistemological downgrade of the Austrian school in the economic scientific community. We discuss how this shortcoming can be fixed and how a proper hermeneutic application to the Austrian school explains why this school of thought is neither positivist nor postmodern.

Keywords: hermeneutics, phenomenology, Austrian school of economics, epistemology of the social sciences

JEL Classification: B25; B40; B53

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Zanotti, Gabriel J. and Borella, Agustina and Cachanosky, Nicolas, Hermeneutics and Phenomenology in the Social Sciences: Lessons from the Austrian School of Economics Case (May 8, 2020). (forthcoming) The Review of Austrian Economics, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3596226 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3596226