Sidgwick, Marshall, and the Cambridge School of Economics

Abstract

The Cambridge school of economics rests on intellectual foundations provided by Henry Sidgwick to a greater extent than conventional histories of Alfred Marshall suggest. During the school’s formative period, Sidgwick’s methodological approach in moral philosophy established a precedent for Marshall’s treatment of economics as an analytical engine and his pursuit of disciplinary consensus. Sidgwick’s welfare analysis, which distinguished between exchange value and aggregate utility, provided the essential theoretical basis for the subsequent work of Arthur Cecil Pigou. This influence extended into the twentieth century, as the philosophical environment of John Maynard Keynes and the Bloomsbury circle was shaped by G.E. Moore’s critical inheritance of Sidgwickian ethics. Sidgwick’s role involved integrating moral philosophy with the emerging requirements of a specialized scientific discipline. Consequently, the development of Cambridge economics represents a continuous evolution of Sidgwickian thought regarding the state’s role, distributive justice, and the rational basis for economic action. – AI-generated abstract.