ABSTRACT
Economics itself has always been partly a vehicle for the ruling ideology of each period as well as partly a method of scientific investigation. This chapter illustrates the themes of metaphysics, morals, and science by references to one or two of the leading ideas of the economists from Adam Smith onwards. The hallmark of a metaphysical proposition is that it is not capable of being tested. Metaphysical propositions also provide a quarry from which hypotheses can be drawn. Since the egoistic impulses are stronger than the altruistic, the claims of others have to be imposed upon us. The mechanism by which they are imposed is the moral sense or conscience of the individual. Some people resent the idea that morality has a physical basis and arises out of biological necessity, as though this degraded the noblest aspect of human nature to the level of the beasts. The biological mechanism for growing a conscience seems to operate through the emotional equipment.
