Natural law thought in political economy in early nineteenth century Britain

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K01580
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07020:Economic doctrines and economic thought-related
• Research Institution: Toyama College (2021-2022); Ibaraki National College of Technology (2019-2020)
• Principal Investigator: ISAKA Tomonori 富山短期大学, 経営情報学科, 准教授 (60583870)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 権利論 / George Poulett Scrope / Isaac Butt

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research revealed that natural rights thought had a significant influence on the economic discourses of the early nineteenth-century unorthodox political economists, particularly those who addressed the issue of Irish poverty. The focus was primarily on two political economists: George Poulett Scrope (1797-1876) and Isaac Butt (1813-1879). On the basis of natural rights theory, they discussed the causes and remedies for the Irish land problem and resulting poverty on multiple occasions. In Ireland, the conflict between the property rights of the rich and the subsistence rights of the poor could not be mitigated by a rise in wealth generated by the productive power of capital. Because “a language of markets” was not entirely convincing in this instance, they could not help using “a language of rights.”

Free Research Field

経済学史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究結果の学術的意義は，自然権を中心とする自然法思想が，経済学の成立以降も，広く影響力を持ち続けた可能性を示した点にある．これまで経済学と自然法思想の関係については，主として後者を槓桿とした前者の成立という文脈において検討がなされてきた．そして経済学の成立以降は，自然法思想の担い手は，「ゴドウィン的無政府主義」（内田義彦）や「小市民急進主義」（水田洋）へと変わっていくとされた．本研究で検討したスクロウプとバットは共に自然権論を積極的に展開してきたが，彼らは「無政府主義」とは程遠い保守的な側面を有していた．19世紀の経済思想においても「権利の言葉」は想定されてきた以上に広く生き続けた．