The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation, and Other EssaysVeblen, Thorstein
Philosophy
The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation, and Other Essays
Veblen, Thorstein
Economics; Science
But the distinction here attempted has a farther bearing, beyond the
possible correction of a given point in the theory of distribution.
Modern economic science is to an increasing extent concerning itself
with the question of what men do and how and why they do it, as
contrasted with the older question of how Nature, working through human
nature, maintains a favorable balance in the output of goods. Neither
the practical questions of our generation, nor the pressing theoretical
questions of the science, run on the adequacy or equity of the share
that goes to any class in the normal case. The questions are rather such
realistic ones as these: Why do we, now and again, have hard times and
unemployment in the midst of excellent resources, high efficiency and
plenty of unmet wants? Why is one-half our consumable product contrived
for consumption that yields no material benefit? Why are large
cooerdinations of industry, which greatly reduce cost of production, a
cause of perplexity and alarm? Why is the family disintegrating among
the industrial classes, at the same time that the wherewithal to
maintain it is easier to compass? Why are large and increasing portions
of the community penniless in spite of a scale of remuneration which is
very appreciably above the subsistence minimum? Why is there a
widespread disaffection among the intelligent workmen who ought to know
better? These and the like questions, being questions of fact, are not
to be answered on the grounds of normal equivalence. Perhaps it might
better be said that they have so often been answered on those grounds,
without any approach to disposing of them, that the outlook for help in
that direction has ceased to have a serious meaning. These are, to
borrow Professor Clark's phrase, questions to be answered on dynamic,
not on static grounds. They are questions of conduct and sentiment, and
so far as their solution is looked for at the hands of economists it
must be looked for along the line of the bearing which economic life has
upon the growth of sentiment and canons of conduct. That is to say, they
are questions of the bearing of economic life upon the cultural changes
that are going forward.
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