Schumpeter once wrote: “Not the first, but the last chapter of a scientific system should deal with its methodology” (1908, xv). This means that in science one cannot effectively discuss methodology independently of concrete problems and actual practice. Now that all of Schumpeter's work is available, it is possible, in light of this precept, to examine his methodology for the purpose of understanding and evaluating his whole body of work. The aim of this book is to reconstruct Schumpeter's contributions to the social sciences from a methodological point of view.

The purpose of the book

Schumpeter was interested in pairs of grand problems such as statics and dynamics, development and cycles, economic development and sociocultural development, theory and history, science and ideology, economic systems and political systems, the economy and civilization, and mind and society. Thus, he was invariably conscious of broad perspectives on problems and developed an overall approach to their resolution in order to give a global picture of reality. Although he stressed the need to restrict the scope of a study, Schumpeter always considered questions in a wider context. He mastered the achievements of other scholars in many fields and, at the same time, went beyond existing scientific knowledge to put forward a new understanding of concepts.