The Dialectics of Differentiation: Marx's Mathematical Manuscripts and Their Relation to His Economics

Peter Matthews

Middlebury College Working Paper Series from Middlebury College, Department of Economics

Abstract: The notion that Marx neither understood nor advocated the use of mathematics is a persistent one. His interest in both commercial and abstract mathematics spanned more than two decades however, and culminated in two "contributions" to the foundations of the calculus: "On the Concept of the Differential" (1881). A detailed examination of these and other technical notebooks suggests that Marx's economics both motivated and informed his studies in mathematics and that these, in turn, influenced his understanding of economic phenomena.

JEL-codes: A12 B14 C60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2002-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe and nep-pke
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Journal Article: The dialectics of differentiation: Marx's mathematical manuscripts and their relation to his economics (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0203

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