Methodenstreit is a German term referring to an intellectual controversy or debate over epistemology, research methodology, or the way in which academic inquiry is framed or pursued. More specifically, it also refers to a particular controversy over the method and epistemological character of economics carried on in the late 1880s and early 1890s between the supporters of the Austrian School of Economics, led by Carl Menger, and the proponents of the (German) Historical School, led by Gustav von Schmoller. To distinguish it from other similar disputes, German speakers sometimes specify it as the Methodenstreit der Nationalökonomie (Methodenstreit of economics), but outside of German speaking countries, the Germanism Methodenstreit mostly refers to this one. Epistemology is an analytic branch of philosophy which studies the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge. ... Scientific method as envisaged by one of its early exponents, Sir Isaac Newton, is fundamental to the investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ... Epistemology is an analytic branch of philosophy which studies the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge. ... Economics (from the Greek οίκος [oikos], family, household, estate, and νομος [nomos], custom, law, hence household management and management of the state) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services. ... // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... The Austrian School is a school of economic thought that rejects opposing economists reliance on methods used in natural science for the study of human action, and instead bases its formalism of economics on relationships through logic or introspection called praxeology. ... Austrian School economist Carl Menger Carl Menger Carl Menger (February 28, 1840 – February 26, 1921) was the founder of the Austrian School of economics. ... The Historical school of economics was a mainly German school of economic thought which held that a study of history was the key source of knowledge about human actions and economic matters, since economics would be culture-specific and not generalizable over space and time. ... Gustav von Schmoller (June 24, 1838 - June 27, 1917) was the leader of the younger German historical school of economics and probably the most distiguished Continental (European) economist of the time around 1900. ...

The Historical School contended that economists could develop new and better social laws from the collection and study of statistics and historical materials, and distrusted theories not derived from historical experience.

The Austrian School by contrast believed that economics was the work of philosophical logic and could only ever be about developing rules from first principles — seeing human motives and social interaction as far too complex to be amenable to statistical analysis — and purporting their theories of human action to be universally valid.

The first move was when Schmoller wrote a highly negative review of Carl Menger's book, Principles of Economics. Menger's reply was a pamphlet entitled The Errors of Historicism in the German Political Economy in 1884. It would in due course include thinkers such as Lujo Brentano, Max Weber, and Werner Sombart for the Historical School, and Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Wieser, and Ludwig von Mises for the Austrian School. Austrian School economist Carl Menger Carl Menger Carl Menger (February 28, 1840 – February 26, 1921) was the founder of the Austrian School of economics. ... Principles of Economics is a book by economist Carl Menger which is credited with the founding of the Austrian School of economics. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Lujo Brentano (18 December 1844–9 September 1931) was an eminent German economist and social reformer. ... Maximilian Weber (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern, antipositivistic study of sociology and public administration. ... Werner Sombart Werner Sombart (January 19, 1863-May 18, 1941) was a German economist and sociologist, the head of the Youngest Historical School and one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century. ... Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (February 12, 1851 - August 27, 1914) made important contributions to the development of Austrian economics. ... Friedrich von Wieser Friedrich von Wieser (July 10, 1851 - July 22, 1926) was an early member of the Austrian School of economics. ... Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 - October 10, 1973), was a notable economist and social philosopher. ... The Austrian School is a school of economic thought that rejects opposing economists reliance on methods used in natural science for the study of human action, and instead bases its formalism of economics on relationships through logic or introspection called praxeology. ...

The term "Austrian school of economics" came into existence as a result of the Methodenstreit, when Schmoller used it in an unfavourable review of one of Menger's later books, and was intended to convey an impression of backwardness and obscurantism of Habsburg Austria compared to the more modern Prussians. Obscurantism is opposition to extension or dissemination of knowledge beyond certain limits and to questioning dogmas. ... Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (Old Prussian: Prūsa, German: Preußen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad...

On an intellectual level the Methodenstreit was a question of whether there could be a science, apart from history, which could explain the dynamics of human action. Politically there were overtones of a conflict between the classical liberalism of the Austrian School and the welfare state advocated by the Historical School. Classical liberalism (also called classic liberalism or simply liberalism) is the original form of, and is today a tendency within, liberalism. ... There are three main interpretations of the idea of a welfare state: the provision of welfare services by the state. ... The Historical school of economics was a mainly German school of economic thought which held that a study of history was the key source of knowledge about human actions and economic matters, since economics would be culture-specific and not generalizable over space and time. ...

Another famous -- and somewhat related -- Methodenstreit in the 1890's pitted the German social and economic historian Karl Lamprecht against several prominent political historians, particularly Friedrich Meinecke, over Lamprecht's use of social scientific and psychological methods in his research. The dispute resulted in Lamprecht and his work being widely discredited among academic German historians. As a consequence, German historians pursued more political and ideological historical questions, while Lamprecht's style of interdisciplinary history was largely abandoned. Lamprecht's work remained influential elsewhere, however, particularly in the tradition of the French Annales School. Karl Gottfried Lamprecht (February 25, 1856 Jessen, Saxony - May 10, 1915 Leipzig) was a German historian. ... Fridrich Meinecke (October 30, 1862-February 6, 1954) was a liberal German historian. ... The Annales School is a school of historical writing named after the French scholarly journal Annales dhistoire économique et sociale (later called , then renamed in 1994 as ) where it was first expounded. ...