The Character Logical Method Of Political Economy Lectures

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Excerpt from Character and Logical Method of Political Economy In offering to the public a new edition of some lectures delivered in Dublin more than seventeen years ago, a few words of explanation are needed. As regards the substance of the opinions advanced - the view taken of Political Economy, and of its methods of proof and development - the present work does not differ from its predecessor; but extensive changes have been made in the form and treatment. Numerous passages have been recast; increased prominence has been given to aspects of the case only touched on in the former volume; and some entirely new topics have been introduced. To one of these - "Definition" - an additional lecture has been devoted. I would fain hope that in its new shape the work will be found somewhat less unworthy than in its earlier form of such favor as it has met with. No one, however, can be more conscious than the author how very far it still falls short of what such a work ought to be. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The work on the “Character and Logical Method of Political Economy” may be recommended to students as a safe guide to help them through the mazy labyrinths which the earlier stages of the study present. The purpose of the work is to ascertain the true relation of Political Economy to the Physical Sciences on the one hand, and to the Moral Sciences on the other, both as regards method and compass. The supporters and opponents of Political Economy have each done it injustice by misapprehending its aims and limits. The study, as Professor Cairnes points out and explains with inimitable clearness, does not consist in an investigation into the causes of physical facts or the evolution of psychological processes. Political Economy begins at the point at which physical science and psychological science each end.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.