Carl Menger on Philippovich’s Grundriss (1898)

Carl Menger’s review assesses the second, revised and enlarged edition of Eugen von Philippovich’s general economics textbook. It moves from the first edition’s reception to the improvements in its successor, making critical synthesis and pedagogical usefulness the grounds of its praise.

Was den Vorzug dieses Werkes vor vielen ähnlicher Art begründete, war die sorgfältige knappe Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse aller Hauptrichtungen der ökonomischen Forschung, die doch überall den selbständigen Denker und kritischen Beurtheiler verrieth.

English translation: What established this work's advantage over many of a similar kind was the careful, concise summary of the results of all the principal directions of economic research, which yet everywhere betrayed the independent thinker and critical judge.

Menger values breadth without the surrender of independent judgment: Philippovich condenses the findings of the principal schools while remaining a critical thinker. The book’s usefulness also rests on proportion—its allocation of attention according to contemporary needs.

Auch ein gewisser praktischer Sinn, welcher sich in der Auswahl des Stoffes sowohl, als in der weitern oder knappern Darstellung der einzelnen Materien geltend machte, je nach dem das Zeitbedürfniss dies zu erfordern schien, hat dem Werke viele Freunde und Leser erworben.

English translation: A certain practical sense as well, which asserted itself both in the selection of the material and in the fuller or briefer presentation of the individual subjects, according as the need of the time seemed to require, has won the work many friends and readers.

The review then treats the rapid appearance of a second edition as evidence of genuine reader demand. Menger singles out the extensive revision of the chapters on money and credit, entrusted to the Vienna Privatdozent I. Landesberger, as strengthening the book’s educational value. His brief assessment offers no detailed doctrinal critique; its significance lies in the standards it endorses for economic exposition: comprehensive coverage, independent evaluation, practical selection, and service to study and teaching.