Pareto on idealization and the method of analysis-synthesis

Philosophers of science and philosophers of economics have recently "rediscovered" the problem of idealization. In this paper a taxonomy of different kinds of idealizing procedures is applied to Pareto's views on the status of economics among the social sciences. The paper aims to show that the evolution of Pareto's career as a social scientist can be seen in a new perspective, as a long and in the end unresolved struggle with the problem of analysis-synthesis.