Knowledge and persuasion in economics. Here rhetorical means all the available means of persuasion. What is the argument and what kind of argument is it. The mathematicians Philip Davis and Reuben Hersh conclude that mathematical truth, like other kinds of truth is fallible and corrigible. We are advocating the study of how economists actually persuade each other and the world.
Positivism tries to narrow things down to the observable.
In reference to the rhetorical approach, the argument that struck home first was that behaviorism is silly because it throws away evidence of introspection. Positivism recommends prediction, judging every theory by its ability to foretell the future. But historical sciences such as paleontology or history itself do not predict. But every theory however' simple on the surface involves an unbounded set of side conditions. Rhetoric is a way with dealing with separate disciplines so they may communicate.