Lonergan's Early Economic Research: Texts and Commentary

Citation

Shute, M. (2013), "Lonergan's Early Economic Research: Texts and Commentary", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 98-100. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068291311283463

Michael Shute's recent edited volume provides the reader access to the early archived files of Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan's initial work on economics. It is a privileged glimpse at the intellectual process of a brilliant thinker. The work of Bernard Lonergan (1904‐1984) is unfamiliar to most, but those who do recognize the name tend to identify him as a theologian and philosopher. Lonergan is best known for his seminal work, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding[1], a massive and comprehensive exploration of the dynamic and recurrent structure of the operations of human consciousness and its implications for philosophy of history, metaphysics, theology and ethics. However, his body of work is vast and ranges from an early study of grace and freedom in the thought of Thomas Aquinas to philosophical essays[2], to his effort at theological method[3]. He is less known for his two original economics essays[4], so this volume offers a welcome and helpful initiation. In spite of a lack of popular recognition, Lonergan's work has a growing following, as is indicated in increasing numbers of Lonergan Institutes throughout the world[5].

Shute's volume is an important resource for entering into Lonergan's complex effort at macroeconomic analysis, an effort that took a deeply rooted philosophy of history approach to the serious political economic issues of Lonergan's time (ranging from his original drafts in 1930‐1944 to his return to economics in the period between 1979‐1983). What is immediately striking in reading the transcribed notes and book reviews, dating from the early 1930s and on, is their relevance to the contemporary economic state of the world. In fact, one wonders how we could have so totally ignored what could only be considered warning signs of things to come: increasing corporate monopolization and reduced “democratic” economics (for example, bureaucratic and corporate control), domination of the financial sector over economic exchange cycles, misuse and misunderstanding of “pure surplus income,” (Lonergan's term for profit emerging from a surplus circuit expansion) and so on.

What Lonergan was after was a “science of economics” whose variables and rhythms could be identified and understood for their ultimate purpose, providing a steadily improving and sustainable standard of living that could allow the creative space for flourishing cultural and spiritual life[6]. The key revelation of his essays is that there are two distinct circuits of exchange and production, basic and surplus circuits, with their own rhythms that must be understood in order for economies to function well and avoid continual cycles of boom and bust. The lack of understanding regarding the circuits and their rhythms has dominated mainstream economics in the past two centuries, and has prevented a truly moral response to economic crises.

Shute's volume is an exercise in what Lonergan refers to as the “functional specialization” of research[7]. In exploring the files, we see early influences on Lonergan's thought, ranging from Christopher Dawson, Heinrich Pesch, F.A. Hayek and Joseph Schumpeter. We also begin to grasp how Lonergan situates his economics within his complex view of a philosophy of history and metaphysics (Chapters 1‐3). As well, he reflects on specific Catholic responses of his time, addressing in an analytical approach what was suggested by the “middle way”[8] and principle of subsidiarity[9], expressed in the Catholic Social Teaching tradition, and on the practical movements such as Catholic Action and the Antigonish Movement[10] (Chapter 8), meant to respond concretely to the needs of the poor.

Michael Shute's volume serves as a fascinating work of research that supplements and provides further fullness to the achievement that is Lonergan's economic analysis. Reading and reflecting on this work makes the weakness of current economic thought all the more disturbing. We can only hope that the next Lonergan (or Marx) will take up the challenge of analysis required to address the economic crises of our time.

Darlene O'Leary

University of Prince Edward Island, Canada

Notes

First published in 1957 by Longmans, Green & Co., London; the most recent publication is Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan 3, eds. Frederick E. Crowe and Robert M. Doran (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997).

See the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan volumes, University of Toronto Press: available at: www.utppublishing.com/search.php?mode=search&sby_series=Collected%20Works%20of%20Bernard%20Lonergan

Method in Theology (London: Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1972; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990).

The two essays are published in the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan: For a New Political Economy, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan 21, ed. Philip J. McShane (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998); Macroeconomic Dynamics: An Essay in Circulation Analysis, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan 15, eds. Frederick G. Lawrence, Patrick H. Byrne, and Charles Hefling, Jr (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999).

A quick internet review of Lonergan Institutes identifies several in North America and world‐wide, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa in Canada; Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, New Jersey in the US; along with centres in Sydney, Australia, Nairobi, Kenya, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, India and the Philippines. See the Washington, DC Lonergan Institute for a list of links: http://lonergan.org/

Shute, “Editor's Introduction,” xvi and p. 136.

The methodology of “functional specialization” is identified in Lonergan's Method in Theology.

The “middle way” refers to the tendency in Catholic social thought to identify the limits of capitalist and communist political‐economic systems and to seek a third option that betters allows for freedom, social justice, human dignity, and the common good. It is often linked with the principle of subsidiarity (see footnote 9).

The principle of subsidiarity refers to the preference for small and medium‐sized, local social organization to manage social and economic matters, rather than overarching corporate, institutional, or bureaucratic organizations. It is one of the key principles in the Catholic social teaching tradition. For a concise discussion, available at: www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk/principles/history/

The Antigonish Movement was an adult education movement based at St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada in the 1930s‐1950s, and led by Fathers Moses Coady and James Tompkins. Its main goal was to empower ordinary people to take on more control of their lives through education and the creation of farming and fishing cooperatives and credit unions.