Around 1900 the Historical Method Was Believed to be the Only Scientific Method for the Sciences of Human Action

At that time, around 1900, historicism was at the zenith of its career. The historical method was believed to be the only scientific method for the sciences of human action. From the height of his historical clarity, the “historical political economist” was looking with unspeakable disgust on the “orthodox dogmatist.” Economic history was the science in fashion. In the German-speaking world [Gustav] Schmoller was adored as the great master of “political economy.” And from all over the world ambitious young men flocked to his seminar.

--Ludwig von Mises, Notes and Recollections with the Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics, ed. Bettina Bien Greaves, trans. Hans Sennholz (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013), 2.