MDSB25H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Practical Reason, Social Fact, Network Society
Document Summary
Choosing to concentrate on describing, preferably through a set of mathematical equation, the outcomes of different combinations of productive factors land labor capital. Raymond williams suggested that when taking up a definition, one should start with basic social practices, not fully formed concepts. He called for an etymology based on social as well as intellectual history because the meaning of ideas is forged in concrete social practices. Offering a conceptual point of view, a dictionary of economic terms tells us that: political economy is the science of wealth, deals with efforts made by men to supply wants and satisfy desires. Specifically, the term economics is rooted in the classical greek: oikos for house, nomos for law. Hence, economics initially referred to household management, a view that persisted into the work of founding influences in classical political economy, francis hutcheson, and adam smith.
