ABSTRACT
The absolutist approach to the history of economic thought has been interpreted as one in
which the subject is regarded ‘as a steady progression from error to truth’ (Blaug 1962: 2). It is deemed by some commentators as superior to the relativist approach which interprets a
theory in the context of its time and location. Absolutism, the search for truth, the stripping
away of imperfections in a theory and its presentation in the context of ‘correct’ modern equivalents, is conceived to be a higher form of intellectual endeavour for the historian of
economic thought. Relativism is equated with antiquarianism by the absolutists.
