Looking Forward

Abstract

We are now at the end of a long, and at times arduous journey across the intellectual terrain of one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. Not all the territory has been traversed, but most of its essential features have been mapped, a few in some detail. A central contention has been that Keynes’s writings and activities represent a life-long attempt to apply reason to theoretical problems and practical affairs. Just as his early emphasis was on the philosophical basis of reasoning, so his later concern was with various dimensions of rationality in economics and politics. The ultimate goal of theoretical reason was truth (whether of primary or secondary propositions), while that of practical reason was the attainment of greater goodness. Truth ultimately rested on intuition, while persuasive appeals to reason were conceived as the most powerful instrument for producing long-term change towards the ethical ideal.

A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind.

J.M. Keynes 1924–26¹