TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– To assess not how Samuelson's individual models contributed to human knowledge but the very true foundation on which they rest, namely, sound theory, facts, and philosophy.Design/methodology/approach– This article has placed Samuelson as a philosopher seeking the truth, and as a theoretical contributor to the many sub‐disciplines of economics.Findings– Shows that his truths bear the evidence of reality, and that his theoretical contributions are not different in kind from the logical theorists. Demonstrates how easily one could formulate a Samuelsonian impossibility theorem that places his thought on the level of the mathematical research started by Hilbert and concluded by Kurt Godel.Originality/value– The literature that has assessed his contributions in this regard is fragmented, and myopically sparse, leaving gaps to be filled in by a paper such as this. VL - 32 IS - 4 SN - 0306-8293 DO - 10.1108/03068290510587042 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/03068290510587042 AU - Szenberg Michael AU - Gottesman Aron A. AU - Ramrattan Lall ED - Barrie Pettman PY - 2005 Y1 - 2005/01/01 TI - Paul A. Samuelson: philosopher and theorist T2 - International Journal of Social Economics PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 325 EP - 338 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -