Stuart Chase
Stuart Chase (1888-1985) Born in Somersworth, New Hampshire was an American economist and engineer trained at MIT. His writings covered topics as diverse as general semantics and physical economy. His hybrid background of engineering and economics places him in the same philosophical camp as R. Buckminster Fuller. It has been suggested that he was the originator of the expression a New Deal, which became identified with the economic programs of American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had a cover story in The New Republic entitled "A New Deal for America," during the week that FDR gave his 1932 acceptance speech promising a new deal, but whether FDR speechwriter Samuel Rosenman saw the magazine is not clear.
He was a member of the Technical Alliance, and involved with the Technocracy movement. In The Economy of Abundance Chase suggests that Technocracy Incorporated may turn out to be a cult, but the facts of Technocracy remain more important than whether Howard Scott was a real engineer or not. His 1938 book The Tyranny of Words was an early (perhaps the earliest, predating Hayakawa) and influential popularization of Alfred Korzybski's general semantics which can still be read with profit.
Quotes
Chase is quoted in S. I. Hayakawa's Language in Thought and Action as having said, "Common sense is that which tells us the world is flat".
Partial booklist
- Your Money's Worth: A study in the waste of the consumer's dollar 1928
- The Tragedy of Waste 1925
- Men and Machines 1929
- A New Deal 1932
- A Generation of Industrial Peace;: Thirty years of labor relations at Standard Oil Company 1941
- The Proper Study of Mankind Harper & Brothers 1948
- Roads to Agreement: Successful methods in the science of human relations 1951
- For This We Fought;: Guide lines to America's future as reported to the Twentieth Century Fund
- Danger--Men Talking! a Background Book on Semantics and Communication
- Rich Land, Poor Land
- The Proper Study of Mankind Harper Colophon Books, 1956
- American Credos 1962
- Guides to Straight Thinking, With 13 Common Fallacies
- The Economy of Abundance
- Tyranny of Words
Books about Chase
The Life and Writings of Stuart Chase (1888-1985) edited By Richard Vangermeersch, Kingston, RI, USA, Elsevier