Is it really true that economics is a 'soft' science, or is it that people seem to have a ridiculously difficult time separating the philosophy of economics from the actual science of economics?

Every science, even the hardest of sciences, like mathematics and physics, also have multiple philosophies underlying them, but somehow people don't seem to get the two aspects confused.

Economics seems to be a special case in the sciences in a number of ways though.  It seems that scientific thought advanced steadily throughout history in pretty much every field except one - economics.  The ancient Greeks started to develop a science of economic thought, but somehow it seems to have just faded away, for reasons not entirely clear to me.  The situation stayed that way for quite some time, until Adam Smith reestablished economics as a science.

It has to make you wonder - how could one aspect of existence, especially one so vital to our well-being, be left so utterly neglected for so long?  Could it be that some folks have a vested interest in most people NOT having a real scientific understanding of economics?  Could it be that some people STILL have conflicted interests along these lines, and profit from blurring the lines between economic science and economic philosophy?