Pat Gunning asks why a statement about G.E. Moore's or A.J. Ayer's
ethical theories is relevant to the history of economic thought.

Here's how it works, Pat. Moore was the greatest influence on Keynes's
thinking when he was young. Moore's work in ethics influenced Keynes's
thinking on economic modeling (e.g. Keynes's rejection of
utilitarianism) as well as his thinking on probability (Keynes first
ventured into the philosophy of probability as the result of an ethical
argument that Moore had made). Even at the end of his life, Keynes wrote
about the importance of Moore's influence on his own thought. Thus, Pat,
to understand Keynes, one must understand Moore.

John Medaille used a poor comparison between Moore's thought and Ayer's
to try to disparage Moore's work in a posting about Keynes. I do not know
myself of any direct connections between Ayer's work and mid-20th
century economic thought, although they may well exist. But it is
certainly reasonable to try to compare Moore to other ethical theorists
to make a statement about Moore (in a thread about Keynes).

Brad Bateman