The Relation of Economics to Other Sciences

Economics is closely related to many other sciences. The whole

discussion of value, as we shall see, depends intimately upon
considerations of psychology. In fact, the school of economics
which has developed farthest the theory of value is often
referred to as the Psychological School. Sociology is sometimes
defined as the social science, that is, the science of all social
relations. If sociology is considered in this sense, economics is a
branch of sociology. Other writers hold that sociology deals only
with the more general laws which apply to the whole social
structure and that it is coordinate with economics and politics
and ethics, and not inclusive of them all.

Politics is the science of the state and because of the many and
important ways in which the state influences, and is influenced
by the manner in which its people make a living, the fields of
the two sciences are closely interwoven and have many
problems in common. Ethics is the science of moral conduct. It
asks the question, what ought to be. There was a time when
economists held that economics was concerned only with the
question, what is, and not with the question, what ought to be.
But to-day practically all economists hold that economics is an
ethical science as well as a positive science, that is, it is
concerned with what ought to be in the economic sphere, as
well as with what is. Just as economics is closely related to the
science of politics so it is also closely related to the science of
law. Government and law form a framework in which economic
forces act.