Social Economics (1874)

Abstract

Agathon De Potter was born in Brussels, Belgium on 11 November 1827, as the eldest son of Louis De Potter, a wealthy historian who played an important role in the Belgian struggle for independence in 1830. He studied medicine and music, but devoted most of his life to the diffusion of Colins’ rational socialism. He contributed frequently to the Colinsian journals La Philosophie de l’Avenir and La Société Nouvelle, and published several books. He died in Brussels, on 30 November 1906.

Translation of excerpts from Agathon De Potter, Economie Sociale (Bruxelles, Chez les Principaux Libraires, 1874). A second edition of the two volumes of this book was published in 1912–1913. The book, written in French, has never been translated into English. The extract reproduced here is taken from Volume I, Chapter XII ‘Le Crédit’, Section VII ‘Les Emprunts et les Prêts Sociaux’, pp. 306–14 of the first edition. Translation copyright © 2004 by John Cunliffe and Guido Erreygers.