Joseph Alois Schumpeter and William James: pragmatism, will, and social evolution

In the present article, the author discusses the similarities between the pragmatist William James’s thought and J. A. Schumpeter’s economic methodology and developmental theory. Many researchers have already discussed Schumpeter’s methodology and his developmental theory, and most of them have argued for the influence on Schumpeter’s methodology of Mach’s instrumentalism or of Weber’s attempt to overcome the Methodenstreit. The author adds to these arguments the hypothesis that Schumpeter was influenced by James’s pragmatism. A number of proofs to support this hypothesis are given through a detailed examination of Schumpeter’s first book, Das Wesen und der Hauptinhalt der theoretischen Nationalökonomie. The author also shows that Schumpeter’s elaboration of his developmental theory itself was somewhat under James’s influence. James’s “great man” and Schumpeter’s “entrepreneur” seemingly play almost the same role in social evolution. The author also hypothesizes that Schumpeter first encountered James’s idea of pragmatism through a lecture delivered by Sydney Webb at LSE. This view is reinforced by evidence from the lecture syllabus. In that lecture, at which we know Schumpeter was present, Webb explained James’s concept of the great man. So far, pragmatism has mostly been ignored in historical and theoretical studies of Schumpeter. However, the author believes that Schumpeter received significant and undeniable influence from William James.