Re: (OPE-L) origins of industrial capitalism -- Middlemarch on PE

From: Michael Eldred (artefact@T-ONLINE.DE)
Date: Sun Sep 21 2003 - 05:07:17 EDT


Cologne 20-Sep-2003

glevy@PRATT.EDU schrieb   Sat, 20 Sep 2003 08:32:03 -0400:

> Michael E wrote:
>
> > "She sat down in the library before her particular little heap of books
> > on political economy and kindred matters, out of which she was trying to
> > get light as to the best way of spending money so as not to injure one's
> > neighbours, or -- what comes to the same thing -- so as to do the most
> > good. Here was a weighty subject which, if she could but lay hold of it,
> > would certainly keep her mind steady." (George Eliot, Middlemarch,
> > Chapter Eighty-Three p.804)
>
> What exactly is your point?
>
> Are you questioning the merit of historical studies and the motivation
> of historians?  Should debates concerning the historical origins of
> industrial capitalism be ridiculed?  Why?
>
> In solidarity, Jerry

Jerry,

I did not have an exact point in sending this. I thought that this quote from
English literature, a novel set around 1830 at the time of the Reform Bill,
provides another perspective altogether on what the words "political economy"
can mean.

The quotation has the flavour still of political economy as a branch of
English and Scottish moral philosophy, and not as a branch of social science.
Thus, it could be stimulating.

Your questions show that another perspective can indeed be stimulating.
There's no intention to ridicule.

Michael
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  artefact text and translation _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- made by art  _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
http://www.webcom.com/artefact/ _-_-_-_-artefact@t-online.de _-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Dr Michael Eldred -_-_-
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Sep 22 2003 - 00:00:01 EDT