WHATELY, Richard.

£2,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Introductory Lectures on Political Economy, being part of a course delivered in Easter term, MDCCCXXXI. First editions of two of Whateley's core works, his major contribution to the formation of the classical position on economic method, and his proposal to reform the penal system.In 1829 Whately became Drummond professor of political economy. In his Introductory Lectures, his first objective was to present political economy as a neutral professional discipline. "Accordingly, his preferred name for the subject was the more technical 'catallactics', or the science of exchanges, since it was not a science of happiness: it could assist a statesman in the decisions he had to take, but was no substitute for them... Secondly, he sought to show that the study of political economy provided further evidence of 'a wise Providence'... The Malthusian evil of overpopulation, famine, and death would occur only in the absence of the exercise of human reason. In an age of 'dismal' economics, Whately was an optimist" (ODNB).In Thoughts on Secondary Punishments, Whately "studied our penal system, which he proposed to reform by the abolition of all punishments but such as were strictly and merely deterrent. His principles were too abstract to gain general acceptance, and were indeed never given to the world in their entirety; but his public utterances in regard to transportation did much to awaken the public mind to a sense of its futility and mischievous results" (DNB).

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