ABSTRACT
Veblen turned to the problem of explaining the origins of modern scientific culture.1 He argued, in brief, that the growth of modern science was itself stimulated by the rational ‘habits of thought’ that were said to be associated with the spread of machines. Such a discussion of the impact of machines and technology protruded into his second book, The Theory of Business Enterprise (Veblen, 1904). This machine-powered explanation of ‘the place of science in modern civilization’ was the title of an essay published in 1906, which incidentally Veblen himself considered to be his best (Dorfman, 1934, p. 260).
