Abstract

Hermann Heinrich Gossen has traditionally been considered a forerunner of the neoclassical theory of demand. With the long-awaited publication, in 1983, of the English translation of Gossen’s book, its editor, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, saw in The Laws of Human Relations and the Rules of Human Action Derived Therefrom the roots of a wholly different theory of consumption choices than that generally accepted, one in which the flow of time plays a non-trivial role. However, Georgescu-Roegen’s interpretation did not object to Gossen being a precursor of the subjective theory of value. The paper argues, with evidence from the works of Gossen, Jevons, Menger and Walras, that, contrary to this interpretation, the theoretical connection between Gossen and the marginalist school is unwarranted in that Gossen, contrary to the early marginalists, was not concerned with adding to the theory of exchange the demand side which the classical British tradition had neglected. In fact, Jevons and Walras, concerned with building a demand-and-supply theory of price and with their relative merits as discoverers of the new approach, “elected” Gossen as their common precursor, despite the fact that Gossen explicitly rejected the idea that his laws of pleasure could bear any implication for the theory of exchage.

摘要

Hermann Heinrich Gossen 历来被认为是新古典需求理论的先驱。1983 年，人们期待已久的戈森书的英文译本出版，其编辑尼古拉斯·乔治斯库-罗根 (Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen) 看到了《人际关系法则和由此衍生的人类行为规则》一种与普遍接受的完全不同的消费选择理论的根源，其中时间的流动起着重要的作用。然而，乔治斯库-罗根的解释并不反对戈森是主观价值理论的先驱。该论文认为，根据戈森、杰文斯、门格尔和瓦尔拉斯的著作，与这种解释相反，戈森与边缘主义学派之间的理论联系是没有根据的，因为与早期的边缘主义者相反，戈森并不关心将古典英国传统所忽视的需求方添加到交换理论中。事实上，杰文斯和瓦尔拉斯关心建立价格的供需理论以及他们作为新方法发现者的相对优点，“选举”戈森作为他们的共同先驱，