Introduction

Abstract

Science is a co-evolution of ‘orthodox’ (mainstream) and ‘heterodox’ (critical) approaches. Facing a multitude of notions, concepts, and theories, how can we distinguish between these two broad approaches? As explained by Thomas Kuhn (1962), a transition from one orthodoxy to another cannot be reduced to an accumulation of new knowledge, but it takes place through a radical change in the prevailing perspective, a transformation of preconceptions (Veblen, [1899] 2004), a new pre-analytical vision (Schumpeter, 1954), or a new paradigm (Kuhn, 1962). These notions are inevitably quite vague, but it is nevertheless possible here to better delineate them using the example of economics. Broadly speaking, in their systematization of political economy, great economists integrated four factors that can be regarded as crucial in the constitution of any new paradigm in economics.