In the spirit of this thread, I would say that Ricardo was Tycho Brahe; the latter's own observations proved that Aristotelian dogma was wrong (there was mutability in the heavens) but he couldn't bring himself to break with Ptolemy -- hence, he had the sun orbit the earth and had the planets on epicycles centred on the sun. Compare, for instance, Ricardo's change of mind on the question of machinery and unemployment. Julian -----Original Message----- From: Gerald_A_Levy [mailto:Gerald_A_Levy@email.msn.com] Sent: 09 February 2001 13:41 To: ope-l Subject: [OPE-L:4860] Was Marx a Copernican or what? Re Julian's [OPE-L:4855;4858]: There is an issue here that goes beyond, yet relates to, the TSSI. Namely: was Marx basically a Ricardian economist or did his perspective on value and political economy represent a revolutionary departure (a "paradigmatic shift") from existing thought? It is my sense that many of the debates on value theory have been among those who have answered that question quite differently. Perhaps one of the reasons for this has been the renewed interest in "classical economics" since the publication of _PCMC_ by Sraffa. In solidarity, Jerry
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