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Warren Samuels' reply to my question: 
 
> 
>Well, I would not adopt a preconception which defined economics as equal to neoclassical
economics, and thereby omitted Austrian, Institutionalist, Marxist, ...
economics/economists.
> 
>How is that for starters? I might like the idea of "a unified method of reasoning," but I
would be wary of adopting ONE such method as THE criterion.
> 
 
Fair enough. Let us accept this as a starting point. The next question, it seems, is how
do we go about identifying "a unified method of reasoning" that characterizes economics?
As a suggestion, might one begin by distinguishing between economics and other fields for
which human interaction is the subject matter? Let me offer two possibilities:
 
1. Economics is about human interaction in which the acquisition of money as a means of
ultimately satisfying wants is THE subject matter or in which it is given primary
emphasis.
 
2. Economics is about the formulation and administration of a national policy relating to
the production and distribution of "wealth." (This definition corresponds to the ancient
definition of economics as the administration of a household.)
 
Once we decide on the subject matter, we could proceed to identify (or try to identify) a
unified method of reasoning (or some set of methods). It seems to me that without defining
economics first, we could not expect to identify such a method or set of methods.
 
But perhaps there is another approach. Perhaps one could catalogue all of the different
economics that one might come across (neoclassical, Austrian, institutional, Marxist,
etc.). Then one might search for the methods of reasoning that all have in common. How
about this?
 
Let me remind us that I am claiming that all this should be done before we begin our
sociological study of economics. Otherwise, we would not know which people to include as
part of our "social system."
 
Pat Gunning 
 
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