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Jevons on measurement. Replay: The mathematisation of economics in the Jevonsonian theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Bert Revoy
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Extract

The article entitled, “Jevons on measurement: A comment” (Mosselmans [1998]), betrays a lack of comprehension of the Jevonsonian process of productive abstraction of numbers. This misapprehension is clearly apparent when B. Mosselmans wrongly confuses units for numbers. This especially furthers the circumvention of the Jevonsonian idea according to which the world is ruled by numbers.

Utility is not a measurable magnitude, yet it is impossible to feature it in the theory of exchange? Jevons responds by the negative. In his view, it does exist a general theory concerning the mathematical expression of magnitude that is not measurable. This assertion is found in the Theory of Political Economy and in The Principle of Science.

Type
Controverses
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , 1998 , pp. 353 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1998 

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References

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