ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES - PURPOSE AND NATURE OF ECONOMICS 1. Definition of economics. ˘ 2. Economics contrasted with the nat ural sciences. I 3. Science as abstraction. I 4. Science and art. ˘ 5. Place of economics among the sciences. I 6. Subdivisions of economics.
7. Economy in the sense of the subject studied. ˘ 8. Economy not parsimony. I 9. Social aims of economics. I 10. Economics in a democ racy. Note on Economic laws and other terms.
§ 1. Definition of economics. - Economics may be defined, briefly, as the study of men earning a living; or, more fully, as the study of the material world and of the activities and mutual relations of men so far as all these are the objective conditions to the gratification and to the welfare of men. The ideas of most persons on this subject are vague, yet it would be very desirable if the student could approach this study with an exact understanding of the nature of the questions with which it deals. Until a subject has been studied, however, a definition in mere words but slightly aids in marking it off clearly in our thought. The student must first try to see the general field of facts and of human interests that eco nomics covers.
§ 2. Economics contrasted with the natural sciences. Economics may be contrasted with the natural sciences, which deal with material things and their mutual relations. A defi nition that suggests clear and familiar thoughts to the student seems at first much more difficult to get in economics than in the natural sciences. These deal with concrete, material things which we are accustomed to see, handle, and measure. If a child is told that botany is a study in which he may learn about flowers, trees, and plants, the answer is fairly satisfying, for he at once thinks of many things of that kind. When, in like manner, zoology is defined as the study of animals, or geology as the study of rocks and the earth, the words call up memories of many familiar objects. Even so difficult and foreign-looking a word as ichthyology seems to be made clear by the statement that it is the name of the study in which one learns about fish. It is true that there may be some misun
derstanding as to the way in which these subjects are studied, for botany is not in the main to teach how to cultivate plants in the garden, nor ichthyology how to catch fish or to propa gate them in a pond. But the main purpose of these studies is easily made clear at the outset; it is to know about the natural objects themselves. It is true that as each science is pursued, and knowledge widens to take in the manifold and various forms of life, the boundaries of the special scienc become not more but less sharp and definite.
In contrast with these, economics is one of the social sciences which deal with the inner nature of men and with men's relations in society. These are less tangible facts—we are tempted to say that they are less familiar—than are the ma terials with which the natural sciences deal. But the truth may be that social acts and relations are more familiar to our thought than is the subject matter of the physical sciences. Every hour in the streets and stores one may witness thou sands of acts, such as bargains, labor, and payments, that are the data of economic science. Their very familiarity taus( us to overlook their deeper meaning.
§ 3. Science as abstraction. A science by its very nature as science is concerned primarily with abstractions rather than with concrete objects. To think scientifically is to think ab stractly. Abstraction is a certain way of looking at things ; it is looking at their qualities. It is more difficult to think abstractly than it is to think of concrete things. It implies an analysis, a taking-apart of things to get at their components, and a grouping of these parts into some general idea—not an easy task for most minds. Economics singles out for study those aspects of the world which have to do with man's desire for the things about him and the use that he makes of them.