Prolegomena neoclassica, or a rather paradoxical attempt at a popularization of the neoclassical methodological approach

This paper is focused on the neoclassical approach in economics and its fundamentals as they are coming from the philosophy of science. However, the author does not want to be treated as an advocate of this approach; this paper is an attempt to popularize several relevant features of neoclassical economics. In addition, he presents some evidence on neoclassical economics as an application of a set of logical arguments in favor of an instrumentalist research methodology. One of the sections of the paper explains the differences between the interwar neoclassical approach and the postwar approach of Arrow and Debreu. Another section deals with selected problems of the neoclassical versus neokeynesian business cycle theories. The author demonstrates that a frequently proclaimed superiority of the neokeynesian approach to business cycles may be only illusionary. Further, the author calls into question superficial criticisms of neoclassical economics that label its subject as "economics of Dr. Pangloss".

Keywords: neoclassical methodology, neokeynesian economics, business cycle theory, problem of induction, realism of assumptions, instrumentalism