The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought
Volume 18, Issue 3, Aug 2011
Pages 353-379
- DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2011.588000
- Print ISSN: 0967-2567
- Online ISSN: 1469-5936
The creator, human conduct and the maximisation of utility in Gossen's economic theory
Université Paris-Sorbonne, France
Abstract
Herman Gossen's book is usually praised for its contribution to the mathematisation of economics and the obsessive presence of religious references is unduly left out. This paper takes both dimensions seriously and explains how the religious emphasis is crucial for a historical and theoretical understanding of Gossen's view on maximisation of utility and the government of rational and selfish human beings.
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- 1801-1870. Classical Political Economy and its Critics
- 1871-1914. Development of Major Contemporary Currents of Thought: Marginalism, Institutionalism, Historicism and Socialism