Natural Law and the Origin of Political Economy

Arild Sæther is Professor Emeritus. He retired from University of Agder, Kristiansand Norway in 2011 and is now affiliated with Agder Academy of Sciences and Letters. Recently he received his Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. Philos) from the Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen. Previously he worked for two and a half years as a Professor of European Economic Integration in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and three years as Director of EuroFaculty Tartu-Riga-Vilnius. Sæther has published books on economic theory and a number of journal articles. For over twenty years his main area of research has been the history of economic thought.

• Introduction Part I: Childhood and Education Childhood: Turbulent Times University Education in Leipzig and Jena A Creative Imprisonment in Copenhagen Part II: A True European Academic Career A Champion of the EnlightenmentPart III: Doctrines of Political Economy Method of Analysis Theory of Human Behaviour Private Property and the Four-Stages Theory Theories of Value, Money and Trade The Foundation of States and Council Decisions Division of State Powers and Principles of Taxation Part IV: Diffusion of Pufendorf’s Economic Ideas A Great Popularizer John Locke an Admirer of Pufendorf Part V: Early French Philosophers and Pufendorf The First French Followers Charles Montesquieu: A Great Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau: A Political Thinker The First Economic Model BuildersPart VI: Scottish Followers of Pufendorf Gershom Carmichael brought Pufendorf to Scotland Francis Hutcheson a User of Pufendorf Pufendorf as a Predecessor of Adam SmithPart VII: How could Pufendorf be Overlooked? The Bedevilled Historians Have Economists Overlooked Pufendorf? Pufendorf the Grandfather of Political Economy

"Sæther gives an impressive proof of erudition and wide reading, and this in an epoch when erudition has become almost a pejorative word in some circles … He was … independent and could write about fundamental questions in the history of thought which fewer and fewer economists even know existed. It is a light in the darkness that the result has been published as a doctoral thesis and a book at a respected publishing house."Bo Sandelin, Ekonomisk Debatt"The book is well-written and prefiguratively structured, and summarizes Sæther's more than 30-year interest in Pufendorf! [...] It helps us to expand our understanding of the origin of the economics profession. The author's burning engagement rubs off on the reader. The author fights for what he believes is Pufendorf's legitimate place in Europe's intellectual history, and especially for a place in the history of economic ideas." John A. Hunnes, University of Agder, Samfunnsøkonomen no. 3, 2019