It is argued that rather than a well defined F-Twist, Milton Friedman's 'Methodology of positive economies' offers an F-Mix: a pool of ambiguous and inconsistent ingredients that can be used for putting together a number of different methodological positions. This concerns issues such as the very concept of being unrealistic, the goal of predictive tests, the as-if formulation of theories, explanatory unification, social construction, and more. Both friends and foes of Friedman's essay have ignored its open-ended unclarities. Their removal may help create common ground for more focused debate in economics.

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doi.org/10.1080/1350178032000130484, hdl.handle.net/1765/73319
Journal of Economic Methodology
Erasmus School of Philosophy

Mäki, U. (2003). 'The methodology of positive economics' (1953) does not give us the methodology of positive economics. Journal of Economic Methodology (Vol. 10, pp. 495–505+558). doi:10.1080/1350178032000130484