Online ISSN 2286-0266
Print ISSN 1223-0685
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Emil DINGA
Academia Română
In the economic (more generally, social) domain the factual testing of the opinions (either theories or hypotheses) is compromised by at least five non-orthodoxies: non-invariance of the initial conditions, teleology (purposes), hermeneutics of the factual experience, normativity inside the explanation, and non-verifiability of the isomorphism model-phenomenon. As consequence, in this field, the truth is problematic and it seems to be more convenient to accept a quasi-truth, that is, a reasonable acceptability of the result of such a testing. The paper examines the concept of reasonability as substitute of the truth and discusses some crucial issues linked to this concept. Also, the paper argues the concept of reasonability doesn’t allow the entering of the pragmatism into the economic (or social) explanation. Finally, some theoretical and methodological precautions in using the concept of reasonability to test the economic (social) propositional statements are identified and evaluated.

ŒCONOMICA no. 3/2014
Keywords: truth, reasonability, normativity, hermeneutics
JEL: B41, C00, E17
Truth and Reasonability [Adevăr şi rezonabilitate]