L'organizzazione sociale e i cerchi concentrici: per una scienza fondata sui Principes

Jean-Charles Léonard Sismondi is well-known among scholars for his work Nouveaux principes d’économie politique which was published in 1819 and, in an extended edition, in 1827. The importance of this publication can certainly be identified with the theoretical impact of its criticism of the capitalist model. Going beyond this aspect, this paper aims to show my interest is to show that from a methodological point of view it is also of some relevance. In fact, Sismondi builds his scientific discourse on ‘principes’ without referring to natural data like in a natural law tradition, rather than referring to the consideration of the causal connections which can be observed in a specific context. Thus, although intrinsically historical and contextual, Sismondi’s economic analysis is surprisingly modern when reconsidered in relation to a reassessment of the concept of ‘principes’.