著者

小林 昇

出版者

The Japanese Society for the History of Economic Thought

雑誌

経済学史学会年報 (ISSN:04534786)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.38, no.38, pp.13-20, 2000 (Released:2010-08-05)

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This essay is a personal account of how an aspect of the post-1945 Japanese research in the history of economics has evolved, with emphasis on how I myself, through my own reading of Friedrich List, British Mercantilists, Josiah Tucker, and particularly James Steuart, as well as my discoveries of other noteworthy economic classics, unwittingly undermined, thus relativized, the dominant place commanded by one economic classic, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations. This was done within the prevailing academic atmosphere of the time, which was characterized by a predominance of Marxian orientation and a concentration on Adam Smith's studies since pre-1945 days, and a rather critical response to these two schools of thought. This post-WWII response, greatly facilitated by the Japan Society of History of Economics (established in 1950), contained some striking elements, such as the introduction of modern theories in the analysis of older economic treatises, Adam Smith studies being affected by expanded studies of the Scottish Enlightenment, and attempted new perceptions of the entire classical economics in view of the development of historical science and discoveries of various new materials, as well as conspicuous broadening of our horizon to include the Continental European and American scenes. In this process I gradually dissociated myself from the Marxian orientation in my reading of the history of economics.