The Worldly Philosophers

The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers is a book by Robert L. Heilbroner. The book was written in 1953 and has sold more than four million copies through seven editions. (The only other economics book to sell more copies is Paul Samuelson's textbook Economics.) Heilbroner begins chapter two by describing the paradoxical and precarious nature of human behavior. Self-centeredness, he writes, characterize... more

The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers is a book by Robert L. Heilbroner. The book was written in 1953 and has sold more than four million copies through seven editions. (The only other economics book to sell more copies is Paul Samuelson's textbook Economics.) Heilbroner begins chapter two by describing the paradoxical and precarious nature of human behavior. Self-centeredness, he writes, characterizes human life along with cooperation. The result is what he calls a "struggle" (p. 18). In "primitive" (p. 19) societies such as that of the Eskimos, the struggle does not pose a problem: Individuals behave under strong pressure to act in the interest of survival. He contrasts those societies with "advanced" or "modern" ones, in which "this tangible pressure of the environment, or this web of social obligation, is lacking" (p. 19). In those societies, fewer incentives exist for individuals to act for the purpose of survival. The result is that ... less