Introduction à une Histoire de la pensée économique qui ne verra jamais le jour

This paper emphasises the specific links between the history of economic thought and economic theory. It first deals with the possible reasons for the persistence of historical research, and stresses the part played by an "oblivion effect" generated by mutations in economic theory. Drawing on a stylised typology of traditional approaches to the history of economic thought ("extensive" and "retrospective" approaches), it is then shown that these latter allow the identification of modern issues of old problematics, provided by the forgotten aspects of the past of the discipline ("intensive" approach). Therefore, although it remains a heuristic method, the intensive approach contributes to explaining the symbiotic nature of economic theory and the history of economic thought : it does not deal with either the past or the established present, but with the transformation of the present of the discipline.