"What is Truth" in Economics?

I T SEEMS that a great many thoughtful people in the world are like Pontius Pilate in that they ask the question of our title, but "do not wait for an answer." But a considerable number differ from him in the interesting respect that instead of asking others the question they volunteer to give the answer themselves, to others, and to the world, without waiting to be asked. This leads to the writing of books of varying character and size, which one suspects are more interesting on the average to their authors than they are to any considerable number of readers. And to many of those who do read them this may be a comforting thought, since it means that books on methodology probably do not do much damage. The chief reservation would be that they are most likely to be read and taken seriously by the young. Mr. Hutchison's methodology or philosophy of economics is of a sort which is particularly irritating to this reviewer, especially because it is so common, among people who "ought to know better." The author is a positivist, i.e., one of those who always think of "science" with a capital S (if they do not always write it that way) and use it in a context which conveys instructions to pronounce in the awe-inspired tone chiefly familiar in public prayer.