From the economic matter of scarcity to thermodynamics to Freud's economic model

Arthur Massot ()
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Arthur Massot: AHP-PReST - Archives Henri-Poincaré - Philosophie et Recherches sur les Sciences et les Technologies - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LHSP - Laboratoire d'Histoire des Sciences et de Philosophie - Archives Henri Poincaré - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: In this contribution we aim to higliht the indirect link between Freud's concept of "economy" and the matter of scarcity theorized by the classical 19th-century economists. The missing link between this two theories can be found in the engeneering and natural sciences of this century. Scientists and engineers of this period gave indeed great importance to the concept of "energy", elaborated through the two laws of thermodynamic around 1850. It has been showed that this concept (and espacially the second law of thermodynamic, the principle of entropy) actually reflected the industrial concerns about the problem of scarcity. Indeed, the new floroushing industry of the europeean countries and the matter of population growth brang the classical economists of the 19th century to theorize scarcity as a significant issue of their societies. As other scientists of his time, Freud, through his concept of "economy", applied the theories of energy to the human organism – though without being aware of the actual economic implications of these theories. To conclude our presentation, we will try to show how the differences between the Freudian theory of death drive (considered as the "entropy" of organisms) and the thermodynamic theory of entropy reflect the evolution of western societies between 1850 (when the two laws of thermodynamics were formulated) and 1920 (moment of Freud's death drive theory).

Date: 2020-02-12
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Published in 2020

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03171425

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