Hjalmar Schacht and "The Theoretical Quality of English Commerce"
Graduation Date
Spring 1972
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
Abstract
Schacht's claims about his own practice would be easy to verify if the English mercantilists were his only source of philosophical inspiration. Schacht claimed to be a cultural German as well. During the years between 1939 and 1943, Schacht had many chances to leave Germany. Rather than leave his country he preferred to remain there and take the personal risk of open opposition to Hitler's war plans.
Taking Schacht's own claims about the roots of his philosophical ideas is an interesting exercise in understanding the role of ideas in history. It is very difficult to understand how someone with English liberal ideas could find himself Minister of Finance under Hitler. This study attempts to find the answer to that question in the basic conflict between English empirical philosophy and German idealism. Schacht's Philosophical life, according to his own account, was cantered in the middle of this conflict. The conflict between the cultures of empiricism and the German idealists is hard to describe since n° two writers in either school were alike.