Radical Historicization and Anti-teleology—Rethinking <i>Constructing Economic Science</i>

In Constructing Economic Science (2022), Keith Tribe's grand syn the sis of the gen e sis, path ways, and byways of Brit ish eco nom ics from Marshall to Robbins, the author pres ents him self as a scourge of tel e o log i cal his to ri og ra phy and cham pion of the pro ject of "rad i cally historicising."In a dense book that exca vates some thirtyfive years of his work, per haps it is not sur pris ing that read ers are left to puz zle out exactly what this pro ject entails and how it is tied to his antitel e o log i cal stance.That is our brief here.This piece is writ ten in the spirit of a com men tary that elu ci dates some fun da men tal assump tions and their impli ca tions, not as a cri tique-admit tedly a dis tinc tion that does not lend itself to ideal pre ci sion.Tribe makes sev eral sug ges tions on how it should be pur sued, both on his website (keithtribe .co.uk)and in the guide lines, warn ings, and other inter jec tions and sign posts intro duced as dis con tin u ous metanar rative com ments in Constructing Economic Science.