Editing Methodenstreit (section)

=== Background ===
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. Thus, the German Historical School focused on specific dynamic institutions as the largest variable in changes in political economy.  The Historical School were themselves reacting against [[Determinism#Determinism in Western tradition|materialist determinism]], the idea that human action could, and would (once science advanced enough), be explained as physical and chemical reactions.<ref>Mises, Ludwig von: [https://www.mises.org/hsofase/ch2sec3.asp "The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics"]</ref>

The Austrian School, beginning with the work of [[Carl Menger]] in the 1860s, argued against this (in ''Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre'', English title: ''[[Principles of Economics (Menger)|Principles of Economics]]''), that economics was the work of philosophical logic and could only ever be about developing rules from first principles{{Mdash}}seeing human motives and social interaction as far too complex to be amenable to statistical analysis{{Mdash}}and purporting to deduce universally valid precepts from human actions.{{cn|date=June 2024}}