A Justice Based Interpretation of ‘Positive’ Economics; an Exposition of the Function of Economics and its Relation to Islamic Economics

Clarification of definitions and functions of social sciences has important implications in our understanding about the nature and method of these sciences. This paper seeks to clarify the position of ideas about justice in the scientific effort of economists, by presenting an account about the nature of economics. In this paper, based on analytical-theoretical approach, and of course, relying on the notions of innovative economists, attempts to redefine the nature of economics. Accordingly, economics is the science of studying how to deal with the conflict of interests, which, of course, this study is based on the “scientist’s or analyst’s perspective about justice”. One of the implications of this point of view is to help understanding the collapse of the positive-normative economics distinction; not only “observations”, but “theorizing” and “providing scientific explanations” are influenced by “the best way to deal with the conflict of interests in the view of the economic or researcher or analyst”. Ultimately, this article criticizes the famous distinction of “science-school” in the literature of Islamic economics.