Cursing the Candle: Models, Methods, and Morality

Responding to the first thirteen chapters in this book, I suggest that performance remains central to the study of ancient economies. In suggesting otherwise, some of the contributors slide back toward what Finley (drawing on Engels) called the “moral-spiritual approach” to economic history. The problem comes down to a lack of explicitness about the definition of key terms (models, methods, morality), about the role of quantification, about counterfactuals, and above all about underlying assumptions about human nature.