p. 130
“
Whatever form it takes, the possession of the imaginative gift transforms the problem of accounting for human conduct. For now it is not a question of how given needs are satisfied. Deliberative conduct, choice, the prime economic act, depend for their possibility, when they go beyond pure instinctive animal response to stimulus, upon the conceptual power of the human mind. Choice is necessarily amongst thoughts, amongst things imagined.
— G. L. S. Shackle
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Whatever form it takes, the possession of the imaginative gift transforms the problem of accounting for human conduct. For now it is not a question of how given needs are satisfied. Deliberative conduct, choice, the prime economic act, depend for their possibility, when they go beyond pure instinctive animal response to stimulus, upon the conceptual power of the human mind. Choice is necessarily amongst thoughts, amongst things imagined." in the context of "p. 130" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "G. L. S. Shackle" (Quotes, Epistemics and Economics. (1972): G. L. S. Shackle (1972), ''Epistemics & Economics: A Critique of Economic Doctrines" Cambridge University Press; Reprint 1992)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About G. L. S. Shackle
George Lennox Sharman Shackle (14 July 1903 – 3 March 1992) was an English economist. He made a practical attempt to challenge classical rational choice theory and has been characterised as a "post-Keynesian," though he is influenced as well by Austrian economics. Much of his work is associated with the Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence.
About G. L. S. Shackle
George Lennox Sharman Shackle (14 July 1903 – 3 March 1992) was an English economist. He made a practical attempt to challenge classical rational choice theory and has been characterised as a "post-Keynesian," though he is influenced as well by Austrian economics. Much of his work is associated with the Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence.
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