Werner Sombart's views on the connection between double-entry bookkeeping and the rise of capitalism are well known and have been influential. In recent decades other views - independent of Sombart's - claiming historical significance for double entry have also been published. Three of these disparate claims are considered in this article: the connection between double entry and Manichaeism; the influence of the rhetoric of double entry; and double entry and the recognition in Western Europe of zero as a number.Accounting history, Werner Sombart, Manichaeism, rhetoric, zero, Luca Pacioli,
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.