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William Stanley Jevons Quotes

Economist

William Stanley Jevons was a British economist born on September 1, 1835, and died on August 13, 1882. He was a pioneer in the theory of marginal utility and had a profound impact on the development of economics.

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Famous William Stanley Jevons Quotes

“There are a multitude of allied branches of knowledge connected with mans condition; the relation of these to political economy is analogous to the connexion of mechanics, astronomy, optics, sound, heat, and every other branch more or less of physical science, with pure mathematics.”

Political Sound Knowledge Economy Conditions Pure Relation Mathematics Connected Astronomy Heat Branches Multitudes Mechanic Physical Science Political Economy Optics Connexion

Book:The Theory of Political Economy

Source: The Theory of Political Economy

“Whoever wishes to acquire a deep acquaintance with Nature must observe that there are analogies which connect whole branches of science in a parallel manner, and enable us to infer of one class of phenomena what we know of another. It has thus happened on several occasions that the discovery of an unsuspected analogy between two branches of knowledge has been the starting point for a rapid course of discovery.”

Source: The Principles of Science: Book IV. Inductive investigation. Book V. Generalization, analogy, and classification. Book VI. Reflections on the results and limits of scientific method

“I am convinced that it is impossible to expound the methods of induction in a sound manner, without resting them upon the theory of probability. Perfect knowledge alone can give certainty, and in nature perfect knowledge would be infinite knowledge, which is clearly beyond our capacities. We have, therefore, to content ourselves with partial knowledge - knowledge mingled with ignorance, producing doubt.”

Giving Would Be Science Sound Ability Perfect Knowledge Doubt Impossible Ignorance Theory Capacity Infinite Method Convinced Certainty Probability Infinite Knowledge

Author:William Stanley Jevons

“The whole value of science consists in the power which it confers upon us of applying to one object the knowledge acquired from like objects; and it is only so far, therefore, as we can discover and register resemblances that we can turn our observations to account.”

Whole Science Values Turns Knowledge Objects Accounts Observation Register Resemblance

Book:The Principles of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method

Source: The Principles of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method