Patrick O'Sullivan

First published in 1987, Professor O'Sullivan's work provides an in depth philosophical examination of the foundations of method in Economics and other human sciences. The argument is unabashedly dialectical in the great Socratic-Platonic tradition, and the reissue will be very welcome to all students of methodology, in particular those students of economic methodology seeking a refreshing alternative to yet more mathematical game playing.In an age dominated and perhaps to an extent perplexed by an ultimately non-committal postmodernism the book provides a root and branch critique of the epistemological relativism which must lie at the root of the whole post-modernist approach; and in reasserting the fundamental importance not only for the methods of science but also for European civilisation of the pursuit of truth it takes a stance which is very much against the tide of the times. A heterodox perspective is also provided and defended in detail regarding the real nature of economic methodology whereby it is shown that Economics epitomises a teleological mode of explanation which is significantly different from the efficient causal modes of explanation of the natural sciences. In fact Economics is the ultimate subjectivist/interpretative discipline in the methodological sense of Max Weber and Alfred Schutz, a fact which has only been recognised (and welcomed) in the Austrian school of Economics.

First published in 1987, Professor O'Sullivan's work provides an in depth philosophical examination of the foundations of method in Economics and other human sciences. The argument is unabashedly dialectical in the great Socratic-Platonic tradition, and the reissue will be very welcome to all students of methodology, in particular those students of economic methodology seeking a refreshing alternative to yet more mathematical game playing.In an age dominated and perhaps to an extent perplexed by an ultimately non-committal postmodernism the book provides a root and branch critique of the epistemological relativism which must lie at the root of the whole post-modernist approach; and in reasserting the fundamental importance not only for the methods of science but also for European civilisation of the pursuit of truth it takes a stance which is very much against the tide of the times. A heterodox perspective is also provided and defended in detail regarding the real nature of economic methodology whereby it is shown that Economics epitomises a teleological mode of explanation which is significantly different from the efficient causal modes of explanation of the natural sciences. In fact Economics is the ultimate subjectivist/interpretative discipline in the methodological sense of Max Weber and Alfred Schutz, a fact which has only been recognised (and welcomed) in the Austrian school of Economics.

Originally published in 1973, this book reports experiments in the modelling of freight flows in Great Britain, on the basis of 78 origin-destination zones covering the entire country. Its central purpose is to establish whether gravity model or linear programming approaches provide the most appropriate way of describing the existing spatial distribution of freight volumes and hence of predicting future flows, given possible allocations of population. Linear programming appears to be the msot useful way to approach freight modelling on this scale. The model outputs allow the authors to probe the problem of regional comparative advantage in terms of the volume of transport inputs. Although there is some association with the accessibility of regions, it is not true that the peripheral areas are at a serious disadvantage. Furthermore, evidence on the structure of transport costs indicates that movement costs are a surprisingly low proportion of total transport costs - thus further reducing the effects of location. The study concludes with a review of the lines along which work might proceed.

From the familiar tales of the Salmon of Knowledge and The Children of Lir to more obscure stories, The Magic of Irish Nature reveals how the physical world informed the Celtic culture and its mythology. Introduced by Don Conroy and illustrated by Michelle Russell, this book is sure to give you a renewed love for the myths and legends of Celtic culture.

This is an in-depth investigation into the circumstances surrounding the torpedoing of the RMS Lusitania, then the world's fastest liner, by the German submarine U-20 in May 1915 with the loss of 1,198 lives.