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Economics and the Idea of Natural Laws

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  • O. H. Taylor

Abstract

I. Dubious notions suggested by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century conceptions of the "laws of nature" are being discarded from natural sciences, and should be discarded from economics, 1. — II. Evolution of the idea of natural laws, since the seventeenth century; in the natural sciences, "mechanical philosophy," belief in harmonious Order of Nature, fatalism, and the modern view that scientific laws may be only statistical laws, 6. — III. Corresponding evolution in economic thought. Eighteenth-century moral sciences mechanistic, but not rigidly deterministic. Economic optimism and fatalism. Modern view of the nature of economic laws, 16. — IV. Economic tendencies are toward adjustment, but not necessarily any ideal adjustment. Social welfare depends on human motives and on institutions. This was recognized in eighteenth-century philosophy of the moral "Law of Nature" (jus Naturae), accepted by Physiocrats and Adam Smith, 34.

Suggested Citation

  • O. H. Taylor, 1929. "Economics and the Idea of Natural Laws," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 44(1), pages 1-39.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:44:y:1929:i:1:p:1-39.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2307/1885439
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    Cited by:

    1. Charbonnat, Pascal, 2014. "Formation et phylogénie des concepts de « marché » dans l’économie politique au xviiie siècle," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 16.

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