The role of ethics as part of the historical methods of Schmoller and the older historical school

Horst K. Betz

pp. 81-105

in: Peter Koslowski (ed), The theory of ethical economy in the historical school, Berlin, Springer, 1995

Abstract

"Ethical" and its sometime hyphenated companion "historical" have become rather stylised attributes in connection with the efforts and accomplishments of the first two generations of the German Historical School. Both their supporters and their detractors have used these adjectives, especially "ethical", without clearly delineating the various implications of this particular designation. I believe that this lack of precision is, at least to some extent, responsible for the refusal among the larger segment of the profession to grant serious scientific recognition to the historicals' contributions. In this paper I will attempt to clarify the meaning of "ethical" in the context of the historical approaches to economics proposed by them. This will be done by approaching the problem at different levels of analysis which, together, should serve to demonstrate their ambitions to reform not only economics but the economy and society as well.