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A very quick response to Kevin Quinn - I did not intend to include 
Sraffa's work on Ricardo in my comment on (some) 'Marxists and 
Sraffians'. My criticism was of those (whether neo-classicals or 
Sraffians) who know the conclusion they are going to reach before they 
start doing the history. 
 
I was, however, a bit worried by the following: 
 
> the sort of thing Quentin Skinner thinks ought to be done ...  i.e. 
> that works to create enough context for us to see that the thinker 
> we thought was groping towards "modern" neo-classical truth was 
> actually engaged in a completely different endeavor, speaking a 
> different language, in a different "world" 
 
That is fine provided it really is the conclusion of the work, but this 
reads a bit as though we are obliged to find "difference". Sometimes we 
read writers who look very different from us and find they are more 
"modern" than we thought. For example, Cantillon looked antique and 
quaint when I first read him, until I realised that he was quietly 
building a model in a very "modern" sort of spirit. 
 
---------------------- 
 
Tony Brewer ([log in to unmask]) 
University of Bristol, Department of Economics 
8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, England 
Phone (+44/0)117 928 8428 
Fax (+44/0)117 928 8577 
 
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