The Theory Of Business Enterprise

principle o( quantltatiye equivalence, the accountancy enforced by the petty trade o( early modern times, as well as by commercial traffic proper, appeals to have ^veo the most effective training. In so far as this element of qnantitative equivalence, aimply, has dominated the growth o( science, it has given, as its moat per(ect product. Positivism. Positivism flouTiahed at its best and (reeat in France, where tbe modem economic culture was commercial rather than mechanical And when the machine discipline seriously invaded France, Positiviam languished and died. But modem science Is not a calculus simply. It deala not with calculations of quanUtative equivalence only, but with efBdent causes, active relations, creative (orcce. The concept of efUcient cause is not a derivative of aeeoUDtancy, nor is it formed In tbe image o( accountancy. But this generic concept of efficient cause, the kinetic concept, aatedates PosltlviBm aud has outlived it. In lis earlier (elgbteenlh-oentury) phase this concept shows close relation■hip with tbe notion of workmanship, in its later (nineteenth-century) use it hs£ much ia common with the notion of mechanical effldeaajr.