REALISM AS A PHILOSOPHICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF MODERN ECONOMIC THEORY (BASED ON WORKS OF FOREIGN ECONOMISTS)

Abstract

This paper attempts to reveal the content of economic theory in a two-focused way: from the perspective of realism stating that scientific theories reflect the real world, and constructivism arguing that scientific theories create their own world which only slightly correlates with the real one. The study of a number of works by contemporary foreign economists provides a brief review of their attitudes towards the problem of economic theories - real world correlation. The author argues that there is no direct logical deducibility of theory from empiricism (if it is not only an empirical theory) as well as empirical consequences from theory, but the studied correlation is more nuanced due to interpretative theories and correspondence rules.