Abstract

In some of his philosophical and scientific works Charles S. Peirce emphasized the economic constraints put upon scientific research. The process of generation, selection and testing of hypotheses, as well as the collection of data and information, is subject to time and resource constraints. Working scientists must individuate the most promising hypotheses and lines of research given the amount of resources at disposal. To this effect they have to estimate in particular the resources needed for testing, and what the acceptability standards require. To put this into economic terms, they have to estimate the expected benefits of research compared with its expected costs. Those who allocate research funds...