HET as Living Legacy
Is it possible to pursue HET as a living legacy in this forum in contrast to
supposing that HET is collection of relics as a history of past errors?
To study HET as a living legacy is to take a set of inherited ideas that we
are using today. It may be contrasted with the notion of HET as a dead
relic accumulated in an archive or museum, where we pay occasional visits to
satisfy the curiosity of how people in past ages thought unlike we who think
differently (and hopefully more intelligently).
The Living Legacy Approach seems to have been adopted by people who have
made major contributions to new thinking while the Dead Relic Approach has
been popular with those who have not themselves added to new thinking in
significant ways. The relic examiners may have developed a rich literature
on the details of the genesis and evolution of ideas. But those would
usually provide no guidance to people who need help with solving problems of
today by finding new ways of thinking about old and new problems.
I happen to pursue the Living Legacy Approach and therefore I tend to
evaluate ideas less for their historical roots than for their current
relevance. I am afraid that those who pursue the Dead Relic Approach may
find my messages somewhat less historical than they would like them to be. I
am afraid that some may even think that I am trying to reconstruct economics
in a forum uninterested in such a pursuit.
But should we not look at the ideas we adopt today and see if these have
flaws that require repairs?
Mohammad Gani