ABSTRACT
John R. Commons's economic doctrines are indeed perplexing from the perspective of inherited microeconomics because they spring from a different intellectual heritage whose theme is evolutionism, and whose corollary is relativism. Commons's sociology is intended to explain the evolution of Anglo-American social organization. He deliberately distinguishes himself from Karl Marx, Darwin, and Veblen by casting out foreordination and blind cumulative causation, and accounts for evolution in terms of free human volition, or artificial rather than natural selection. Commons weaves his account of the origin of common law out of materials concerning man, his earthly environment, conflicts of interest, private ownership, class struggle, institutions, the state, and the judiciary. Commons's discussion bearing on conduct includes conduct occuring within the firm, and he begins by creating a schema of the firm. Based on a distinction between materials and person-to-person relations, he separates the firm's "going plant" from its "going business." .
