Keith Tribe correctly points out that one of the main problems in trying to understand the Methodenstreit is the assumption on the part of many interpreters that Schmoller represents "the" Historical School. Recognizing the many problems inherent in dealing with translations, but also recognizing how few historians of economic thought read German, I suggest as one easy window into the issues to try reading Lionel Robbins' LSE lectures on the German Historical School in the readily available edition of those lectures edited by Steven Medema (Princeton). Robbins knew and read German and so at least you are in the hands of an interpreter who (like Keith Tribe) knows of what he speaks and who lectured beautifully. Robbins makes very clear the differences between the older Historical School (e.g., Knies) and the younger Historical School (e.g., Schmoller). For any English speaker who does not know German, this is an excellent way to avoid a simplistic understanding of the Methodenstreit.

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> On Mar 7, 2016, at 12:54 AM, K Tribe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> The main thing that gets lost in any discussion of this is the fact that Schmoller, who is taken as representative of the "Historical School", never did what he claimed to do with respect to "historical economics"; and that Menger was in effect pointing this out.  Coupled with that, the "German Historical School" was in fact very much more diverse than usually assumed, and there is little in the way of any treatment of that besides the main source, the first part of Shiro Takebayashi, Die Entstehung der Kapitalismustheorie in der Gründungsphase der deutschen Soziologie (Berlin 2003) which I review and partly summarise in Max Weber Studies Special Issue 1 2006/7 pp. 270-275.  Simon Cook and I have a sceptical account of the idea of "Historical Schools" of economics forthcoming in the Elgar Companion to the History of Economics; and I also covered the issue in Ch. 4 of my Strategies of Economic Order (CUP 1995/2007).  When in 2004 I and some other conference participants were allowed a quick tour of the shelves of Menger's library in Hitotsubashi library the main thing that struck me was the large amount of travel and related descriptive literature there, and the patchiness of European economic writing from the 1890s.  So far as I know there is still no stand-alone catalogue for the collection, but if there were it would be worth examining for the kinds of things that are there, and those that are not.
> 
> best wishes,
> 
> Keith Tribe, Independent Scholar
> 
>> On 06/03/16 23:17, Bruce Larson wrote:
>> I would like to refresh (and advance) my knowledge about the
>> Methodenstreit, i.e., the "battle of methods" between Carl Menger and the
>> German Historical School.  I know, of course, about Menger's
>> *Investigations* but I am especially interested in a book-length treatment
>> of the issues involved and how they relate to current issues in economics;
>> a long article might be sufficient.  I would be grateful for your
>> suggestions.
>> 
>> Best wishes,
>> 
>> Bruce Larson
>> Professor of Economics Emeritus
>> University of North Carolina at Asheville
>> 
>