MALTHUS (Thomas Robert).
Definitions in Political Economy. A New Edition, with a Preface, Notes, and Supplementary Remarks by John Cazenove.
A lovely copy of the rare second edition of Malthus’s Definitions, edited and with a new preface, notes and additional remarks by John Cazenove (1788-1879), an intimate friend and protégé of Malthus, who described him as ‘a very clever man, and good political economist.’ Cazenove’s writings are ‘a worthwhile contribution to political economy in their own right, and an important part of the anti-Ricardian tradition’ (New Palgrave).
The Definitions was the ‘only book-length work devoted solely to semantics to appear in the classical period’ in which Malthus established four basic rules for defining and applying terms, demonstrating how these are ‘followed or violated by economists, including Smith, Say, Ricardo, James Mill, McCulloch and Bailey. In the penultimate chapter, he offers definitions of 60 key terms in political economy; the final chapter offers a discussion of problems that arise upon application of the definitions’ (Redman, Rise of Political Economy, pp. 302f). ‘Definitions remains significant as an early contribution to the methodology of economics, and one which repays consideration in times of terminological confusion’ (New Palgrave).
