Excerpt from Principles of Political Economy: Applied to the Condition, the Resources, and the Institutions of the American People
"Political Economy," says Mr. Samuel Laing, "is not a universal science, of which the principles are applicable to all men under all circumstances, and equally good and true for all nations; but every country has a Political Economy of its own, suitable to its own physical circumstances of position on tho globe, climate, soil, products, and to the habits, character, and idiosyncrasy of its inhabitants, formed or modified by such physical circumstances."
I am not prepared to accept this remark in all its generality, for if it were true, it would follow, not only that Political Economy is not a universal science, but that it is no science at all, inasmuch as universal applicability, as Mr. Laing himself observes, is "the distinguishing characteristic and test of every branch of knowledge that claims the dignity of real science." But the habits and dispositions of men, as manifested in the pursuit of wealth, may be reduced to general principles, and thus become subjects of legitimate scientific classification and inquiry) just as much as those other habits and dispositions which are manifested in the constitution and conduct of organized society, and which, when generalized and classified, become the science of Politics. There is a general science of Human Nature, of which the special sciences of Ethics, Psychology. ?sthetics, Politics, and Political Economy are so many departments, all founded upon the essential unity of the human mind and character, and the consequent similarity of its manifestations under similar circumstances.
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