Resumen

HODGSON, Geoffrey M.. The Problem of Historical Specificity.Traducido porRodrigo Puchet. Inv. Econ [online]. 2003, vol.62, n.245, pp.33-69. ISSN 0185-1667.

Every economic system, human being or complex organism has its own history. Studying the different societies has led to a search for general theories that try to unify the history itself. Said unification requires general principles and formulations to explain the causative mechanisms behind any such history. However, devising a real general theory about complex phenomena is bound to become bogged down in severe problems to do with the handling of a given phenomenon. That is why general theories have always tended towards simplifications in their attempts to explain true facts. What is the reason for this? In this author' s opinion, these theories suggest very firm conjectures and then assume that everything behaves in the same way. The result is that general theories are limited in their explanatory value, leading to the so-called problem of historical specificity. This paper studies attempts made in economics to develop general theories, taking into consideration the fact that even unification itself has certain limits.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )