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of convenience of exposition.66
On the whole, it appears that the distinction between productive and
unproductive consumption, the phenomena of over-production, the prin-
ciples of taxation, &c., discussed under the head of consumption by
James Mill and others, fall quite naturally and conveniently into other
departments of economic science. The theory of utility, as discussed by
Jevons, stands on a different footing. For unlike theories of taxation,
population, and so on, it relates in itself purely to the consumption of
wealth. and hence has a much stronger claim to be considered a distinct
theory of consumption. At the same time, for reasons that have been
already briefly indicated in connexion with Jevons s description of eco-
nomics, this theory may be regarded as constituting part of the neces-
sary prolegomena of economic science, rather than one division of com-
pleted economic doctrine. The consumption of wealth is not so much an
economic activity in the sense in which that term has been above de-
fined, as itself the end and aim of all economic activity. Wealth is pro-
duced, distributed, exchanged, in order that it may be consumed. The
The Scope and Method of Political Economy/55
satisfaction of human needs is the motive power throughout. Thus, a
true theory of consumption is the keystone of political economy; but it
may, nevertheless, be regarded as occupying the position of a funda-
mental datum or premise of the science, rather than as constituting in
itself an economic law or laws on a par with the laws of production,
distribution, and exchange.
Chapter IV
On the Relation of Political Economy
to General Sociology
§1. Conflicting views of the relation between economic science and the
general science of society. Before proceeding further, it is necessary
to enquire explicitly whether political economy is really entitled to rank
as a distinct department of study at all. It is maintained by Comte and
his followers that on account of the extremely intimate connexion be-
tween the phenomena of wealth and other aspects of social life, any
attempt to separate economic science from social philosophy in general
must necessarily end in failure. The phenomena of society, it is said,
being the most complicated of all phenomena, and the various general
aspects of the subject being scientifically one and inseparable, it is irra-
tional to attempt the economic or industrial analysis of society, apart
from its intellectual, moral. and political analysis, past and present. It is
admitted that certain of the facts of wealth may by a scientific artifice be
studied separately, but it is denied that their investigation can constitute
a distinct science.67
In striking contrast to the above is the view of those economists who
regard political economy as an independent abstract science, dealing
with the phenomena of wealth in isolation, and having no concern what-
ever with other social phenomena. While on the former view the relation
of economics to sociology is properly one of entire subordination or
rather inclusion, on this view it is one of absolute independence; the
facts of wealth are to be studied in and by themselves; they are to be
treated as having no relation to other social facts; man is to be consid-
ered as a being who is occupied solely in acquiring and consuming wealth.
The truth lies between these two extreme views. What may be called the
extreme separatist doctrine affirms of political economy as a whole what
is true only of a certain portion or aspect of it, and hence would leave
the science incomplete. Comte s view, on the other hand. overlooks the
56/John Neville Keynes
fact that only by specialization within proper limits can scientific thor-
oughness and exactness be attained in any department of knowledge.
Students of economics may, moreover, naturally and fairly ask to have
the province of sociology itself more explicitly defined, and to see its
own fundamental doctrines more clearly formulated, before they can be
expected to shew a willingness to have political economy subsumed
under and absorbed into it.
It will be our endeavour to shew that whilst the study of economic
phenomena cannot be completed without taking account of the influ-
ence exerted on the industrial world by social facts of very various kinds,
it is nevertheless both practicable and desirable to recognise a distinct
systematized body of knowledge, which is primarily and directly con-
cerned with economic phenomena alone. On this view, economics is
regarded as constituting one division of the general philosophy of soci-
ety, of which other divisions are jurisprudence, the science of political
organization, and the philosophy of religious, moral, and intellectual
development; but it is allowed its own set of specialists, and the neces-
sity of systematically combining the study of economic phenomena with
that of other aspects of human existence is denied. It is, in other words,
held to be possible for the economist to steer a middle course, neither
assuming throughout the whole range of his investigations an entirely
unreal simplicity, nor, through the neglect of that specialization which
has been found indispensable in the physical sciences, allowing himself
to be hopelessly baffled by the complexity of the actual phenomena.
It should be carefully borne in mind that throughout this chapter, as
in the chapters that follow, political economy is regarded as a positive
science. Similarly by sociology is understood a body of theoretical truth,
not a system of practical maxims. The separate existence of economic
theory is not imperilled, when it is admitted that practical arguments
based on economic grounds alone are rarely in themselves decisive. The
two questions are often not clearly distinguished from one another. It is,
however, important to recognize that those who stand out most strongly
for the recognition of a separate economic science may hold equally
strongly that no true guidance in matters of conduct is to be obtained by
appealing simply to economic considerations, all social consequences
of non-economic character being disregarded.
§2. The place of abstraction in economic reasoning. According
to what has been above called the extreme separatist view, political
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