ABSTRACT
In regard to the scope of political economy, no question is more important, or in a way more difficult, than its true relation to practical problems. It is a further question whether or not people should also recognize, as included under political economy in the widest sense—but distinct from the positive science—a branch of ethics which may be called the ethics of political economy, and which seeks to determine economic ideals; and an art of political economy, which seeks to formulate economic precepts. The proposition that it is possible to study economic uniformities without passing ethical judgments or formulating economic precepts seems in fact so little to need proof, when the point at issue is clearly grasped, that it is difficult to say anything in support of it that shall go beyond mere truism. This chapter concludes by briefly pointing out the methodological importance of the distinctions that have been indicated.
