Critical realism and Kantian transcendental arguments

Tony Lawson has made use of transcendental arguments, as developed by Roy Bhaskar, to criticise mainstream economics. This importation of Kantian ideas into economic methodology is commendable, since they offer the best means available for diagnosing and overcoming the empiricism that underlies mainstream economics. This paper argues, however, that instead of using Bhaskar's transcendental arguments, critical realists would do better to employ Kant's own, which are of direct relevance to economic methodology and have greater persuasive force than Bhaskar's. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.