Note 31 — Chapter II · GREEK ASTRONOMY.

His procedure may be compared with that of a political economist of the school of Ricardo, who, in order to establish some rough explanation of economic phenomena, starts with certain simple assumptions as to human nature, which at any rate are more plausible than any other equally simple set, and deduces from them a number of abstract conclusions, the applicability of which to real life has to be considered in individual cases. But the perfunctory discussion which such a writer gives of the qualities of the “economic man” cannot of course be regarded as his deliberate and final estimate of human nature.