William Stanley Jevons Quotes

A collection of quotes by William Stanley Jevons.

William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882) was a British economist and logician. He is best known for his pioneering work in the field of economics, particularly his contributions to the theory of marginal utility. Jevons's book "The Theory of Political Economy" (1871) revolutionized economic thought and laid the foundation for the marginal revolution in economics. He also made significant contributions to the field of logic, introducing what is now known as the Jevons' Paradox. Jevons's work greatly influenced subsequent economic thinkers and contributed to the development of modern economic theories and methodologies.

In this work I have attempted to treat economy as a calculus

In this work I have attempted to treat economy as a calculus of pleasure and pain, and have sketched out,almost irrespective of previous opinions, the form which the science,as it seems to me, must ultimately take.

William Stanley Jevons

Work Science Pain

Among minor alterations, I may mention the substitution for

Among minor alterations, I may mention the substitution for the name political economy of the single convenient term economics. I cannot help thinking that it would be well to discard, as quickly as possible, the old troublesome double-worded name of our science.

William Stanley Jevons

Science Help

Previous to the time of Pascal, who would have thought of me

Previous to the time of Pascal, who would have thought of measuring doubt and belief? Who could have conceived that the investigation of petty games of chance would have led to the most sublime branch of mathematical science - the theory of probabilities?

William Stanley Jevons

Time Chance Science Belief Doubt Game Games Thetimes

One of the first and most difficult steps in a science is to

One of the first and most difficult steps in a science is to conceive clearly the nature of the magnitudes about which we are arguing.

William Stanley Jevons

Nature Science

In any case I hold that there must arise a science of the de

In any case I hold that there must arise a science of the development of economic forms and relations.

William Stanley Jevons

Science

I protest against deference to any man, whether John Stuart

I protest against deference to any man, whether John Stuart Mill, or Adam Smith, or Aristotle, being allowed to check inquiry. Our science has become far too much a stagnant one, in which opinions rather than experience and reason are appealed to.

William Stanley Jevons

Experience Science Man

but, in reality, there is no such thing as an exact science.

but, in reality, there is no such thing as an exact science.

William Stanley Jevons

Science

In short, I do not write for mathematicians, nor as a mathem

In short, I do not write for mathematicians, nor as a mathematician, but as an economist wishing to convince other economists that their science can only be satisfactorily treated on an explicitly mathematical basis.

William Stanley Jevons

Science

It is clear that economics, if it is to be a science at all,

It is clear that economics, if it is to be a science at all, must be a mathematical science.

William Stanley Jevons

Science