Introduction: Profiting from Words

Abstract

In the introduction, Thorup offers the broad outlines of a programme for an intellectual history of economic normativities. Arguing that intellectual historians need to move beyond looking strictly at the history of economic science, Thorup discusses existing literature and approaches as well as presents fruitful avenues for research. The introduction goes into detail on the concept of economic normativities, defined as the operative indistinction of the economic and the moral, as well as into the temporalizations and historicizations in economic reasoning specifically and intellectual history generally. The main purpose of the introduction is to help develop a broader research programme for intellectual historians interested in economic matters, both past and present.