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This paper attempts to assess how mathematical formalism is used in economics based on the dual perspective of epistemology and ethics. The demonstration principally concerns Popper's critical rationalism, an epis-temological posture widely adopted in economics. Economic science uses Popper's proof of refutability, although only as a shield against the factors of internal limitation against which economic knowledge finds itself confronted. Acknowledging and giving meaning to these limitational factors would be a proof of scientific rigour and fruitfulness in economics, particularly in the science's claims to an ethical dimension. Re-founding the ethical ambition of economics is something much called for today, with a view to restoring the much-battered relationship between man and nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]