Although it is correct to see Joseph A. Schumpeter as a heterodox social scientist, our understanding of this heterodoxy must be radically rethought. To do this we must go beyond simply recognising the strong link between economics and sociology in his work and try instead to understand the paradoxical âimpoliticalâ (not apolitical) nature of this heterodoxy. For in his concept of the autonomy of the economic sciences the presence of the âpoliticalâ had to be recognised whilst also being circumscribed and held back. As a result, economics as a social science remained an unsolvable puzzle for him. This book maintains that this was the crucial gamble of his entire life's work, and the starting point for his conservative radicalism.
Adelino Zanini is former professor of Political Philosophy and History of Economic Thought at the Polytechnic University of Marche. He is among the main Italian interpreters of Adam Smith and Joseph A. Schumpeter. Among his works: Economic Philosophy (Peter Lang, 2008) and Ordoliberalismo (Il Mulino, 2022).
Introduction: From Vienna to Harvard
â1âForeword
â2âA Young Heterodox
â3âThe Sacred Decade
â4âThe Period of âGran Rifiutoâ
â5âThe Worldâs First Hothouse of Economics
â6âA Lifelong Conviction
â7âThis Book
â8âTranslatorâs Note
1 The Logos of Economic Theory
â1âIntroduction
â2âA Functional Gnoseology
â3âStatics and Dynamics
â4âSchumpeter as Political?
2 On the Genesis of the Social Sciences (1910â1915)
â1âOpening Doors
â2âHow Does One Study Social Science?
â3âArguments for a Sociology of Knowledge
3 Variations on the Entrepreneur
â1âThe âSpiritâ of Capitalism
â2âThe âConceptâ of the Entrepreneur: A First Approximation
â3âThe Entrepreneur in the First Edition of Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung (1911)
â4âThe 1926 Revision
â5âFinal Changes
4 Imperialisms, Social Classes
â1âHistoriographical Issues in Brief
â2âA Legacy of the Princely State
â3âThe Crisis of the Bourgeois Zeitgeist
5 A âGermanâ Perspective on the Future of Capitalism
â1âUnrelieved Pessimism
â2âCrumbling Walls
â3âA Labourist Capitalism
6 The Process of Filiation of Scientific Ideas: Rationality and Ideology
â1âCriteria of Rationality
â2âA Significant Indeterminacy
â3âVision and Ideology
â4âThe Conflict between âSchoolsâ of Thought
References Index
This book is for academic institutions, libraries, specialists, and graduate students in the following fields: political philosophy, the history of economic thought, and heterodox economic theory.