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Mathematics Is The Lantern: Vito Volterra, Lã‰On Walras, And Irving Fisher On The Mathematization Of Economics

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  • Scott, Sonya

Abstract

The interdisciplinary project to unite the field of mathematics with the social and biological sciences marks the work of Vito Volterra, one of Italy’s most prominent mathematicians of the twentieth century. This paper explores the connections between Volterra’s 1901 inaugural address at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome and the work of two of his contemporaries, Léon Walras and Irving Fisher. All three thinkers were ardent advocates of the mathematical turn in economic thinking. This paper argues, however, that it is the previously unexplored relationship between Volterra and Fisher that sheds the most light on the way in which mechanical physics contributed to the project of mathematization within economics more generally. Furthermore, it explores the way in which mathematical inquiry postulated a new and coherent abstraction of the economy, at the same time that it gave epistemological authority to the economist.

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  • Scott, Sonya, 2018. "Mathematics Is The Lantern: Vito Volterra, Lã‰On Walras, And Irving Fisher On The Mathematization Of Economics," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(4), pages 513-537, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:jhisec:v:40:y:2018:i:04:p:513-537_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Subhendu Bhattacharyya, 2021. "A small step towards unification of economics and physics," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 20(1), pages 69-84, June.

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