The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Modern European Thought - Hardcover

Traces the history of the capitalist idea in western thought, from its origins in the ancient classical world and medieval Christianity to its flowering from 1700 to the present day, revealing how philosophers and theorists have influenced the ways in which the market can affect society and analyzing the moral, cultural, and political impact of capitalism. 15,000 first printing.

history of the idea of capitalism in Western thought–—from its origins in classical Greece and Rome and in medieval Christianity, through its flowering from 1700 to the present day—that examines the most significant thinkers who have influenced our views on how the market can (and should or should not) affect the way society is organized.

Capitalism is too complex a subject to be left to economists, and achieving a critical comprehension of it requires perspectives beyond those characteristic of modern economics. European thinkers have debated the cultural, moral, and political effects of capitalism for centuries, and their claims have been many and diverse. Historian Jerry Muller tracks this fascinating thread, setting out what the best and brightest—from Hobbes to Hayek, and across the ideological spectrum, including Voltaire, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Hegel, Marx, and Matthew Arnold, as well as twentieth-century communist, fascist, and neoliberal intellectuals