CAUSALITY IN CLASSICAL ECONOMICS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17119706Keywords:
Causality, empiricism, philosophy of science, philosophy of economics, Adam SmithAbstract
This study examines the role of causality within the framework of empiricist epistemology in the Classical School of Economics. Causality, one of the fundamental problems in the history of science, lies at the center of efforts to understand the structure of scientific knowledge. The empiricist tradition, particularly in the field of economics, has exerted a formative influence on the foundations of modern social sciences. David Hume conceptualized causality not as necessity, but merely as the succession of events that regularly follow one another; from a skeptical perspective, he argued that causality is only a mental habit and cannot be known with certainty. John Stuart Mill, however, sought to overcome Hume’s skepticism by claiming that causal laws could be established through inductive and experimental methods. Deeply influenced by Hume, Adam Smith adopted a pragmatic approach, interpreting causality in the context of moral sentiments and social behavior. The perspectives of these three thinkers reveal the epistemological, methodological, and normative dimensions of causality within the empiricist tradition. By offering a comparative evaluation of these orientations, the article presents a multi-layered analysis of the philosophical, scientific, and ethical aspects of causality.
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