A couple of quick responses to Mary Schweitzer's post of December 4, 1995: I agree that McCloskey's first work on rhetoric was good for economists to hear, and I agree that her's is a limited approach. However, I strongly disagree with the assertion that McCloskey is pushing the notion that rhetoric is a weapon with which to wield power. From my own reading of her texts, and my association with her as a student, it is apparent that McCloskey treats rhetoric as a PROCESS, not as a thing. In fact, if you have ever read McCloskey's "If You're So Smart," I find it astonishing that you came to the conclusion that he is promoting a destructive notion of rhetoric. Nevertheless, there does exist a contradiction in that McCloskey continues to maintain that neoclassical economics is the "right" way to pursue economics, but I don't believe that this translates to a desire on her part to shut economics off from the perspectives of non-economists. Inclusivity is a main theme of her work on rhetoric. I think you're correct, though, that in the wrong hands, rhetoric can be reduced to mere polemics. In my own work, I look exactly at how narrative and rhetoric excludes certain schools of thought from mainstream discussion. This analysis could easily extend to non-economists. But I certainly don't think that this analysis begins and ends with McCloskey and I can't say I know anybody who thinks it does. I think we are all aware that there have been folks writing on this stuff for generations and not under the illusion that these are new ideas. I would also like to address the assertion that "what SHOULD have happened was an opening from the economics profession into the literature of other professions...within my own discipline of economic history that SHOULD have meant a reawakening to the value of historiography." Why should this have happened when the history profession doesn't widely agree on the beneift of the study of historiography (and I define historiography not simply as the writing of history, but the critique and analysis of the writing of history)? By the way, when did the Greeks enter into this discussion? Jonathon E. Mote 1822 Chestnut #3F Philadelphia, PA 19103 [log in to unmask]