Page:Confessions of an Economic Heretic.djvu/16



years ago I was foolish enough to write a long book entitled Free Thought in the Social Sciences, setting forth the difficulties that confronted thinkers and teachers in history, politics, economics, ethics, and other studies of human institutions and conduct, because of the refractory nature of the material they handled, the defects of terminology, and in particular the biases of interest and valuation due to their own personal experiences and associations. I ought to have known that any such argument, questioning the objectivity and disinterestedness of these studies, and so damaging their scientific reputation, would be ignored, not refuted. For if my reasoning were correct, it would disturb that intellectual confidence regarding fundamentals which seems essential to maintain the laborious study of the detailed facts. If it be true that the intellectual exponents of the sciences of politics and economics in particular are secretly, perhaps subconsciously, aware of the uncertainty of their main assumptions and of the pressure of their personal or class sentiments and valuations, they will struggle to repress these doubts and questionings and to keep a stiff intellectual upper lip. For the committal to, and