[lbo-talk] Transcending Medieval Economics

[michael perelman]

In my new book, Sex, Lies and Economics, about early economics of the
late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, one of the constant
themes is the struggle against the medieval thinking.  Beginning with
William Petty, the early economists I am analyzing were following the
new science, which emphasized close observation to replace received
dogma.  Here is a nice description of how the dogma was presented at
the time.  Notice how closely the medieval method resembles the
scholastic method that the early economists opposed.  In this sense,
we are losing ground.

Matters of exchange: commerce, medicine, and science in the Dutch
Golden Age by Harold John Cook:
More at:
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/transcending-medieval-economics/

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA
95929

530 898 5321
fax 530 898 5901
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com