Search for Order

In the early days of capitalism, there was a different social and political framework. Heilbroner begins before there was a market mechanism or a need for the field of economics. Philosophy was concerned with man and man's role in the universe. How did man fit in and what did man fit into? All of the pieces worked in some way so that the whole thing functioned without any direction from anyone. All of the tasks that needed to be done in a society, no matter how disagreeable, were performed without being assigned. In the early days, this was accomplished by tradition, with sons taking over from the fathers. In some societies, like India, it was mandatory through caste. Nobody had to assign these functions to anyone and they were all performed. In other societies based on slave labor, like Egypt, these functions were assigned to slaves...