James Forder in his recent monograph on Milton Friedman opens the discussion on F53, Friedman’s positivist methodology, with the following statement:
The methodology essay itself–so I shall argue–is worthless, but dramatic as was his [i.e. Friedman’s] demonstration that he could not develop his ideas in philosophical terms, it does not follow that he had no clear programme of scientific action, or that he could not explain the steps of that programme as he took them.
This is very much to my liking: clear, straighforward, and on the mark. After decades of fruitless pseudo-debates over the (alleged) merits of the paper, hopefully we can now leave for a new consensus. More to come later.
Peter Galbács - Adventures in Neoclassical Economics 