John C. O'Brien

Schmoller's Political Economy: Self‐interest versus the Higher Law

Schmoller reserves his admiration for those entrepreneurs who succeeded in the acquisition of wealth but whose primary goal was the promotion of the public interest. Such individuals as List, Steiner, Geibel, Abbe and von Mevissen are of this sort. Schmoller is lavish in his praise of them. Schmoller is critical of the natural economy of Adam Smith where each individual is activated by his own self‐interest. Schmoller sees in the higher law a guide to human behaviour. Moneymakers are not necessarily men of great talent. For this reason Schmoller prefers the man who is driven by the pursuit of idealistic goals. Schmoller′s historical approach to the political economy, one shared by some in the Western world, is to be contrasted with the view that the best type of social order permits the individual to pursue his self‐interest and that such a pursuit is in keeping with the social interest.

Gustav von Schmoller: Social Economist

The author′s purpose is to show by reference to Schmoller′s own writings that he can be classified as a social economist. Schmoller rejected the study of economics in isolation, but preferred a holistic approach. He eschewed laissez‐faire and thought little of self‐seeking entrepreneurs who made no contribution to the common good.

The good society: the Illuminated, Karl Marx and Adam Smith

Examines the history of the Illuminated, a secret society founded by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria, on 1 May 1776, which aimed to overthrow civil and religious institutions with the claim that the ends justify the means. Looks at Karl Marx and the links with the Illuminateds doctrine and also compares the Illuminateds ideas with the teaching of Smith. Concludes that although the Illuminated may have been activated by the most altruistic of motives, their search for the good society was doomed from the start.

The Social Economist Hankers after Values: A Collection of Essays

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man i...

The Eternal Path to Communism: From Marx via Lenin and Stalin to Solzhenitsyn and Gorbachev

It is shown that the destination of communists can never be reached. The goal of the perfect society is one which lies beyond the powers of human nature. The analytical teachings of Marxism were accepted by Lenin who devoted himself to the implementation of them in a Russian setting and thereby creating a socialist society. The Party was the dictatorship of the proletariat and not averse to the use of force. Stalin sought to create the centrally planned economy with a mailed fist and became a self‐appointed dictator at the same time as he paid lip service to the Marxist‐Leninist ideology. Solzhenitsyn decries the evils of the USSR and attributes them to the evils of the Marxist‐Leninist ideology. Gorbachev, alive to the shortcomings of the socialist society and the dangers of a nuclear war has, unlike his predecessors, assumed the role of diplomat and peacemaker. Communism is still bent on world domination.

Introduction: A Tribute to a Scholar and Teacher Extraordinaire

John E. Elliott has been a professor of economics at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles since 1956 when he graduated from Harvard University with a doctorate in economics. In that position at USC, John has distinguished himself not only as a scholar and prolific writer but also as an outstanding teacher. He has received every teaching honour which USC has within its power to bestow. Moreover, John has distinguished himself for his contribution to the wellbeing of the faculty and to the advancement of its efforts to preserve and extend the concept of academic freedom. John E. Elliott was born in the year 1931 and the essays which comprise this Festschrift are written in celebration of his sixtieth birthday. The numerous awards he has received for the high quality of his teaching, for his creativity and innovation in the dissemination of knowledge, his record of books published, articles contributed to scholarly journals, and book reviews, are to be found in his curriculum vitae printed at the end of this work.