Sergio Cremaschi - David Ricardo. An Intellectual Biography

David Ricardo has been acclaimed or vilified for merits he would never have dreamt of, or sins for which he was entirely innocent. Entrenched mythology labels him as a utilitarian economist, an enemy of the working class, an impractical theorist, a scientist with no philosophy at all and the author of a formalist methodological revolution. Exploring a middle ground between theory and biography, this book explores the formative intellectual encounters of a man who came to economic studies via other experiences, thus bridging the gap between the historical Ricardo and the economists Ricardo.

The chapters undertake a thorough analysis of Ricardos writings in their context, asking who was speaking, what audience was being addressed, with what communicative intentions, using what kind of lexicon and communicative conventions, and starting with what shared knowledge. The work opens in presenting the different religious communities with which Ricardo was in touch. It goes on to describe his education in the leading science of the time geology before he turned to the study of political economy. Another chapter discusses five philosophers students of logic, ethics and politics with whom he was in touch. From correspondence, manuscripts and publications, the closing chapters reconstruct, firstly, Ricardos ideas on scientific method, the limits of the abstract science and its application, and, secondly, his ideas on ethics and politics and their impact on strategies for improving the condition of the working class.

This book sheds new light on Ricardian economics, providing an invaluable service to readers of economic methodology, philosophy of economics, the history of economic thought, political thought and philosophy.

Sergio Cremaschi is a former Reader of Moral Philosophy at the Amedeo Avogadro University at Vercelli, Italy.

Routledge Studies in the History of Economics

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   Claude Roche

1. Poverty in Contemporary Economic Thought
   Edited by Mats Lundahl, Daniel Rauhut and Neelambar Hatti

1. Thomas Aquinas and the Civil Economy Tradition
   The Mediterranean Spirit of Capitalism
   Paolo Santori

1. The Macroeconomics of Malthus
   John Pullen

1. Competition, Value and Distribution in Classical Economics
   Studies in Long-Period Analysis
   Heinz D. Kurz and Neri Salvadori

1. David Ricardo. An Intellectual Biography
   Sergio Cremaschi

1. Humanity and Nature in Economic Thought
   Searching for the Organic Origins of the Economy
   Edited by Gbor Br

1. European and Chinese Histories of Economic Thought
   Theories and Images of Good Governance
   Edited by Iwo Amelung and Bertram Schefold

For more information about this series, please visit www.routledge.com/series/SE0341

First published 2022

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2022 Sergio Cremaschi

The right of Sergio Cremaschi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cremaschi, Sergio, 1949 author.

Title: David Ricardo : an intellectual biography / Sergio Cremaschi.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Routledge studies in the history of economics | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Subjects: LCSH: Ricardo, David, 1772-1823. | EconomistsGreat BritainBiography. | EconomicsPhilosophy. | EconomicsMoral and ethical aspects.

Classification: LCC HB103.R5 C74 2022 (print) | LCC HB103.R5 (ebook) | DDC 330.092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021024296

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021024297

ISBN: 978-0-367-75345-0 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-75347-4 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-16210-0 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003162100

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