Science and Society in William Stanley Jevons's Thought: Improvement Through Knowledge

By Eleonora Buono

This open access book deals with the ideas and work of William Stanley Jevons (1835 - 1882). Jevons is now mainly known as an economist. His revision of the theory of value and the definition of the principle of decreasing marginal utility gained him a prominent place in the history of economic thought. However, Jevons's oeuvre goes far beyond his contribution to economics. He was a logician and a natural scientist. Jevons was always a godly man, and his religious beliefs, far from being a merely private aspect, were highly influential in his works. He was interested in evolutionism, and especially in Herbert Spencer's philosophy. This book explores Jevons's work as a Victorian social scientist, who was committed to understand the natural laws regulating human society in order to improve it. The book explores several different facets of Jevons's thought, such as: his religious views, in connection with scientific method and study of probability; the link between nineteenth-century Unitarianism, the branch of Dissent of which Jevons was part, and his moral and political thought; the role played by Herbert Spencer's thought in Jevons's political philosophy; the relevance of his religious views, philosophy of logic, moral and political thought to his economic theory.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3032187303
• ISBN13: 9783032187307
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 361 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.3"