Philosophy and psychology of mathematics according to Alfred Marshall

Marco Dardi

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2016, vol. 40, issue 1, 283-308

Abstract: Marshall’s recipe for mathematical economics can be described as generous doses of the imagery (‘language’) of mathematics combined with as little space as possible for its demonstrative methods (‘reasonings’). In other words, use the semantics of mathematics, but be wary of its syntax. The article traces the origins of this recipe in the broadly defined ‘intuitionist’ philosophy of mathematics which marked the reformed Cambridge Mathematical Tripos during the mid-nineteenth century. Marshall’s early philosophical papers reveal that he meditated and reconstructed this philosophy in terms of his own. His later approach to mathematical economics can be accounted for as an adaptation of this intuitionist background to the needs of economic theory as he perceived them.

Date: 2016
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