Lionel Robbins's now famous lectures on the history of economic
thought comprise one of the greatest accounts since World War II of
the evolution of economic ideas. This volume represents the first
time those lectures have been published.
Lord Robbins (1898-1984) was a remarkably accomplished thinker,
writer, and public figure. He made important contributions to
economic theory, methodology, and policy analysis, directed the
economic section of Winston Churchill's War Cabinet, and served as
chairman of the "Financial Times." As a historian of economic
ideas, he ranks with Joseph Schumpeter and Jacob Viner as one of
the foremost scholars of the century. These lectures, delivered at
the London School of Economics between 1979 and 1981 and
tape-recorded by Robbins's grandson, display his mastery of the
intellectual history of economics, his infectious enthusiasm for
the subject, and his eloquence and incisive wit. They cover a broad
chronological range, beginning with Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas,
focusing extensively on Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and the
classicals, and finishing with a discussion of moderns and
marginalists from Marx to Alfred Marshall. Robbins takes a varied
and inclusive approach to intellectual history. As he says in his
first lecture: "I shall go my own sweet way--sometimes talk about
doctrine, sometimes talk about persons, sometimes talk about
periods." The lectures are united by Robbins's conviction that it
is impossible to understand adequately contemporary institutions
and social sciences without understanding the ideas behind their
development.
Authoritative yet accessible, combining the immediacy of the
spoken word with Robbins's exceptional talent for clear,
well-organized exposition, this volume will be welcomed by anyone
interested in the intellectual origins of the modern world.
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