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Sraffa and Wittgenstein: Physicalism and constructivism

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  • Mathieu Marion

Abstract

After a brief review of facts and hypotheses concerning Piero Sraffa's intellectual exchanges with the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and their content, a brief presentation of some of the basic ideas of Productions of Commodities by Means of Commodities is given, on the basis of which I argue, first, that Sraffa's 'objectivism' in economics is closely related to the 'physicalism' towards which Wittgenstein moved soon after his return to Cambridge and, secondly, that the mathematics of that book are in line with Wittgenstein's constructivist stance, as it is already found in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

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  • Mathieu Marion, 2005. "Sraffa and Wittgenstein: Physicalism and constructivism," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 381-406.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:17:y:2005:i:3:p:381-406
    DOI: 10.1080/09538250500147114
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Amiya Kumar Bagchi, 2019. "Piero Sraffa: Making a Revolution in Economic Theory," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 31(2), pages 217-234, July.
    2. Rodríguez-Arana, Alejandro, 2016. "Una visión crítica del problema de indeterminación de la distribución del ingreso en el sistema económico de piero Sraffa./ A critical view of the problem indeterminacy of distributionincome in the sy," Panorama Económico, Escuela Superior de Economía, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, vol. 12(23), pages 7-28, Segundo s.

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