罗宾斯在1932年提出了经济学和伦理学的二分,立即被广为接受。从方法论的层面看,罗宾斯观点恰好迎合了当时开始鼎盛的逻辑实证主义哲学。于是,经济学的研究开始以逻辑实证主义的事实与价值的二分法作为方法论基础。而实际情况是,事实理解依赖于价值,价值判断也无法摆脱事实。更加合理的研究框架要求把伦理学的关切和概念引入经济学,而又不牺牲经济学的工程学方面对很多问题提供的合理的解释和有效的分析工具。新的研究框架代表了古典政治经济学复兴和科学哲学发展的潮流。
Robbins gave rise of the economics/ethics dichotomy in the year of 1932, and it was broadly accepted by economists at once. On the perspective of methodology, the viewpoint of Robbins is in accord with logical positivism, which was the authority in philosophic field at that time. So the research of economics began to base on the fact/val- ue dichotomy of logical positivism. But in fact, the explanation of fact depends on value, and the value judgment builds upon fact too. A more reasonable research program asks economists to introduce ethical concept into econom- ics, and it requires we can preserve the engineering aspects of economics, for it can provide rational explanation and effective analysis tool for many economic issues. This new research program represents the renaissance of classic po- litical economy and the direction of the development of science philosophy.