Comments

Professor Arkin: ‘The underlying merit of Professor Weidner’s paper is its continual emphasis on development as a multi-disciplined concept — as an issue which not only bestrides the continents, but which breaks down the barriers between specialist disciplines. Economists, in their arrogance and ignorance, tend to adopt a blinkered view of such issues — to regard “development” and “economic development” as synonymous, even though (as Professor Arthur Kemp demonstrates in his paper below) we economists probably know far less about the processes of progress than the vast output of literature from our pens might suggest. Moreover, I suspect that the same sort of criticism holds good for the political scientists, the sociologists and many of the other groups of specialists represented at this Conference. So the broad interdisciplinary approach of Professor Weidner’s arguments sets the appropriate tone for our deliberations.