Many professional economists describe economics as a science. Sciences, however, are by definition non-normative: they describe but they do not prescribe. Yet economists are often called on to recommend a course of action for governments and financial institutions. Ttherefore, since economists play a prescriptive role in society, economics should not be thought of as a science. The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument ['attacks the proponents of a claim rather than addressing the merits of the claim itself', 'overlooks the necessity of divisions of labor within society', 'fails to recognize the significance of the distinction between a discipline and the people who work within that discipline', 'insists on a change in terminology when that change would have no practical consequences']