state of development, it cannot be due to a lack of serious interest
or ability on their part. Nor can their disregard be the result of a
haughty rejection of the deeper insight a true science would give
into the circumstances and relationships determining the outcome
of their activity. The cause of such remarkable indifference must
not be sought elsewhere than in the present state of our science
itself, in the sterility of all past endeavors to find its empirical foundations.
Every new attempt in this direction, however modest the effort,
contains its own justification. To aim at the discovery of the fundamentals
of our science is to devote one’s abilities to the solution
of a problem that is directly related to human welfare, to serve a
public interest of the highest importance, and to enter a path where
even error is not entirely without merit.
In order to avoid any justifiable doubts on the part of experts,
we must not, in such an enterprise, neglect to pay careful attention
to past work in all the fields of our science thus far explored. Nor
can we abstain from applying criticism, with full independence of
judgment, to the opinions of our predecessors, and even to doctrines
until now considered definitive attainments of our science.
Were we to fail in the first task, we would abandon lightly the
whole sum of experience collected by the many excellent minds of
all peoples and of all times who have attempted to achieve the
same end. Should we fail in the second, we would renounce from
the beginning any hope of a fundamental reform of the foundations
of our science. These dangers can be evaded by making the
views of our predecessors our own, though only after an unhesitating
examination, and by appealing from doctrine to experience,
from the thoughts of men to the nature of things.
This is the ground on which I1 stand. In what follows I have
endeavored to reduce the complex phenomena of human economic
activity to the simplest elements that can still be subjected
to accurate observation, to apply to these elements the
measure corresponding to their nature, and constantly adhering
to this measure, to investigate the manner in which the
or ability on their part. Nor can their disregard be the result of a
haughty rejection of the deeper insight a true science would give
into the circumstances and relationships determining the outcome
of their activity. The cause of such remarkable indifference must
not be sought elsewhere than in the present state of our science
itself, in the sterility of all past endeavors to find its empirical foundations.
Every new attempt in this direction, however modest the effort,
contains its own justification. To aim at the discovery of the fundamentals
of our science is to devote one’s abilities to the solution
of a problem that is directly related to human welfare, to serve a
public interest of the highest importance, and to enter a path where
even error is not entirely without merit.
In order to avoid any justifiable doubts on the part of experts,
we must not, in such an enterprise, neglect to pay careful attention
to past work in all the fields of our science thus far explored. Nor
can we abstain from applying criticism, with full independence of
judgment, to the opinions of our predecessors, and even to doctrines
until now considered definitive attainments of our science.
Were we to fail in the first task, we would abandon lightly the
whole sum of experience collected by the many excellent minds of
all peoples and of all times who have attempted to achieve the
same end. Should we fail in the second, we would renounce from
the beginning any hope of a fundamental reform of the foundations
of our science. These dangers can be evaded by making the
views of our predecessors our own, though only after an unhesitating
examination, and by appealing from doctrine to experience,
from the thoughts of men to the nature of things.
This is the ground on which I1 stand. In what follows I have
endeavored to reduce the complex phenomena of human economic
activity to the simplest elements that can still be subjected
to accurate observation, to apply to these elements the
measure corresponding to their nature, and constantly adhering
to this measure, to investigate the manner in which the
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