Otto Neurath is well known as a founding member of the Vienna Circle, one of several points of origin of logical empiricism or neopositivism. While Neurath’s distinctive contribution to the philosophy of science and epistemology in general has come to be recognised after long neglect, his economic thought remains relatively unexplored. A striking fact has thus remained long obscured: Neurath is not the “positivist” economist one might expect. To throw this point into further relief, the question I want to explore here is whether and to what extent, if any, it makes sense to look at Neurath as an “Austrian” economist. Aware of the danger of treading a thin line between blatant absurdity and Pickwickian banality, my hope is that this way of proceeding will unlock some of the still topical originality of Neurath’s economics.
What would seem to render my leading thought absurd is, of course, the acrimonious debate between Ludwig von Mises and Neurath (and later, mostly unpublished, that between Neurath and Friedrich August von Hayek). This early phase of the socialist calculation debate pitched Neurath very much against thirdgeneration representatives of the so-called Austrian School of Theoretical Economics. And what seems to render my leading thought Pickwickian is the unspectacular fact that Neurath was of Austrian nationality. It is true, of course, that he was a self-consciously “Austrian philosopher”, but that does not make him an Austrian economist in the relevant sense. Yet when we delve into the depths of the debate with Mises, things begin to look quite different.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Böhm-Bawerk, Eugen von, 1891, “The Austrian Economists”, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1, 361-384
Cassell, Gustav, 1899, “Grundriss einer elementaren Preislehre”, Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft 55, 395-458
Chaloupek, Günther K., 1990, “The Austrian Debate on Economic Calculation in a Socialist Economy”, History of Political Economy 24, 659-675
Gottl-Ottlilienfeld, Friedrich von, 1914, Wirtschaft und Technik, 2nd ed, 1923, Mohr, Tübingen
Gossen, Hermann Heinrich, 1854, Entwicklung der Gesetze des menschlichen Verkehrs, 2nd ed, 1889, Prager, Berlin
Haller, Rudolf, 1986, “Zur Historiographie der österreichischen Philosophie” in Von Bolzano zu Wittgenstein (ed. by J.C. Nyiri), Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Vienna, trans. “On the Historiography of Austrian Philosophy”, in Rediscovering the Forgotten Vienna Circle (ed. by T.E. Uebel), Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1991, 41-50
Hayek, Friedrich August von, 1926, “Friedrich Freiherr von Wieser”, Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 70, repr. in Wieser 1929, v-xxiii
Hayek, Friedrich August von, 1935a, “The Nature and History of the Problem”, in Hayek 1935c, 1-40
Hayek, Friedrich August von, 1935b, “The Present State of the Debate”, in Hayek 1935c, 201-243
Hayek, Friedrich August von, ed., 1935c, Collectivist Economic Planning, Routledge, London
Hayek, Friedrich August von, 1940, “Socialist Calculation III: The Competitive Solution”, Economica 7, repr. in Hayek 1948, 181-208
Hayek, Friedrich August von, 1942-1944, “Scientism and the Study of Society”, Economica 9-11, repr. in The Counter-Revolution of Science. Studies in the Abuse of Reason, Free Press, New York, 1952
Hayek, Friedrich August von, 1945, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”, American Economic Review 35, repr. in Hayek 1948, 77-91
Hayek, Friedrich August von, 1948, Individualism and Economic Order, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Hutchison, Thomas, 1953, A Review of Economic Doctrines 1870-1929, Clarendon Press, Oxford Kautsky, Kark, 1902, Die soziale Revolution Bd. II: Am Tage nach der Revolution, Dietz, Stuttgart, trans. in The Social Revolution and on the Morrow of the Revolution, London, 1907
Lavoie, Don, 1985, Rivalry and Central Planning. The Socialist Calculation Debate Reconsidered, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Martinez-Alier, Juan, 1987, Ecological Economics. Energy, Environment and Society, Blackwell, Oxford
Mises, Ludwig von, 1912, Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel, Duncker & Humblot, Munich-Leipzig, 2nd ed. 1924, trans. The Theory of Money and Credit, Cape, London, 1934, enlarged ed. 1953
Mises, Ludwig von, 1919, Nation, Staat und Wirtschaft. Beiträge zur Politik und Geschichte der Zeit, Manz, Vienna
Mises, Ludwig von, 1920, “Die Wirtschaftsrechnung im sozialistischen Gemeinwesen” Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik 47, trans. “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth”, in Hayek 1935c, 87-130
Mises, Ludwig von, 1922, Die Gemeinwirtschaft. Untersuchungen über den Sozialismus, Fischer, Jena, 2nd ed, 1932, trans. Socialism. An Economic and Sociological Analysis, Johnathan Cape, London, 1936, enlarged ed. 1951
Mises, Ludwig von, 1928, “Neue Schriften zum Problem der sozialistischen Wirthschaftsrechnung”, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik 60, 187-190
Mises, Ludwig von, 1933, Grundprobleme der Nationalokonomie, Jena, trans. Epistemological Problems of Economics, van Nostrand, New York, 1960
Mises, Ludwig von, 1962, The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Value, 2nd ed, Steed Andrews and McMeel, Kansas City, 1978
Mises, Ludwig von, 1978, Notes and Recollections, ed. by M. v. Mises, Libertarian Press, Spring Mills
Neurath, Otto, 1910a, Lehrbuch der Volkswirtschaftslehre, Hölder, Vienna.
Neurath, Otto, 1910b, “Zur Theorie der Sozialwissenschaften”, Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reich 34, trans. “On the Theory of Social Science” in Neurath 2004, 265-291
Neurath, Otto, 1911, “Nationalökonomie und Wertlehre, eine systematische Untersuchung.”, Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft, Sozialpolitik und Verwaltung 20, 52-114, repr. in Neurath, Gesammelte ökonomische, soziologische und sozialpolitische Schriften I (ed. by R. Haller and Ulf Höfer), Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Vienna, 1998, 470-518
Neurath, Otto, 1912, “Das Problem des Lustmaximums”, “, Jahrbuch der Philosophischen Gesellschaft an der Universität Wien 1912, trans. “The Problem of the Pleasure Maximum”, in Neurath 1973, pp. 113-122
Neurath, Otto, 1913, “Die Verirrten des Cartesius und das Auxiliarmotiv: Zur Psychologie des Entschlusses”, Jahrbuch der Philosophischen Gesellschaft an der Universität Wien 1913, trans. “The Lost Wanderers of Descartes and the Auxiliary Motive (On the Psychology of Decision)” in Neurath, Philosophical Papers 1913-1946 (ed. by R.S. Cohen and M. Neurath), Reidel, Dordrecht, 1983, 1-12
Neurath, Otto, 1919, “Wesen und Weg der Sozialisierung”, in Durch die Kriegwirtschaft zur Naturalwirtschaft, Callwey, Munich, 209-220, trans. “Character and Course of Socialisation”, in Neurath 1973, 135-150
Neurath, Otto, 1920a, “Ein System der Sozialisierung”, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik 48, trans. A System of Socialisation” in Neurath 2004, 345-370
Neurath, Otto, 1920b, Vollsozialisierung, Diederichs, Jena, trans. “Total Socialisation”, in Neurath 2004, 371-404.
Neurath, Otto, 1925a, Wirtschaftsplan und Naturalrechnung, Laub, Berlin, trans. “Economic Plan and Calculation in Kind”, in Neurath 2004, 405-465
Neurath, Otto, 1925b, “Sozialistische Nützlichkeitsrechung und kapitalistische Reingewinnrechnung”, Der Kampf 18, trans. “Socialist Utility Calculation and Capitalist Profit Calculation”, in Neurath 2004, 466-472
Neurath, Otto, 1928, Lebensgestaltung und Klassenkampf, Laub, Berlin, trans. “Personal Life and Class Struggle” in Neurath 1973, 249-298
Neurath, Otto, 1935, Was bedeutet rationale Wirtschaftsbetrachtung? Gerold, Vienna, trans. “What is Meant by Rational Economic Theory?”, in Unified Science (ed. by B. McGuinness), Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1987, 67-109
Neurath, Otto, 1973, Empiricism and Sociology (ed. by M. Neurtah and R.S. Cohen), Reidel, Dordrecht
Neurath, Otto, 2004, Economic Writings. Selections 1904-1945 (ed. by T.E. Ubeel and R.S. Cohen), Kluwer, Dordrecht
Neurath, Otto and Anna Schapire-Neurath, eds., 1910, Lesebuch der Volkswirtschaftslehre (2 vols.), Klinkhart, Leipzig
Neurath, Otto, and Wolfgang Schumann, 1919, Können wir heute sozialisieren? Eine Darstellung der sozialistische Lebensordnung und ihres Werdens, Klinkhart, Leipzig
O’Neill, John, 1993, Ecology, Policy and Politics. Human Well-Being and the Natural World, Routledge, London
O’Neill, John, 1998, The Market. Ethics, Knowledge and Politics, Routledge, London
O’Neill, John, 2004, “Ecological Economics and the Politics of Knowledge. The Debate between Hayek and Neurath”, Cambridge Journal of Economics 28, 431-447
O’Neill, John, 2006, “Knowledge, Planning and Markets. A Missing Chapter in the Socialist Calculation Debate”, Economics and Philosophy 22, 1-24
Schäffle, Albert, 1875, Die Quintessenz des Sozialismus, Perthes, Gotha, trans. of 8th ed., The Quintessence of Socialism, Sonneschein, London, 1892
Stadler, Friedrich, 1997, Studien zum Wiener Kreis, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a.M., trans. The Vienna Circle, Springer, Vienna-New York, 2001
Steele, David Ramsay, 1992, From Marx to Mises. Post-Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation, Open Court, La Salle, IL
Streissler, Erich w., 2002, “Wirtschaftliche Entscheidungstheorie als Angelpunkt der Österreichischen Schule der Nationalökonomie”, In L. Bauer and K. Hamberger (eds.), Gesellschaft denken. Eine erkentnnistheoretische Standortbestimmung der Sozialwissenschaften, Springer, Vienna-New York, 309-318
Uebel, Thomas, 1999, “Some Scientism, Some Historicism, Some Critics. Hayek’s and Popper’s Critiques Revisited”, In J. Wolff, M. Stone, eds., The Proper Ambition of Science, Routledge, London, 151-173
Uebel, Thomas, 2003, “On the Austrian Roots of Logical Empiricism. The Case of the First Vienna Circle”, In Logical Empiricism. Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (ed. By P. Parrini, W.C. Salmon and M.H. Salmon), University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 67-93
Uebel, Thomas, 2005, “Incommensurability, Ecology and Planning: Neurath in the Socialist Calculation Debate, 1919-1928”, History of Political Economy 37, 311-342
Vaughn, Karen, 1994, “The Socialist Calculation Debate”, in The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics (ed. by P. Boettke), Elgar, Aldershot, 478-484
Weber, Max, 1921, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Mohr, Tübingen, trans. Economy and Society, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978
Wieser, Friedrich von, 1888, Der natürliche Wert, Hölder, Wien, trans. Natural Value, Macmillan, London, 1893
Wieser, Friedrich von, 1911, “Das Wesen und der Hauptinhalt der theoretischen Nationalökonomie Kritische Glossen”, in Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reich 35, repr. in Wieser 1929, 10-32
Wieser, Friedrich von, 1913, Theorie der gesellschaftlichen Wirtschaft, Mohr, Tübingen, 2nd ed. 1923, trans. Social Economics, Adelphi, New York, 1927
Wieser, Friedrich von, 1921, “Carl Menger”, in A. Bettelheim (ed.), Oesterreichische Biographie, vol. 2, Amalthea, Munich, repr. in Wieser 1929, 110-125
Wieser, Friedrich von, 1929, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, ed. by F.A. Hayek, Mohr, Tübingen
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer Science + Business Media B.V
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Uebel, T.E. (2007). Otto Neurath as an Austrian Economist: Behind the Scenes of the Early Socialist Calculation Debate. In: Nemeth, E., Schmitz, S.W., Uebel, T.E. (eds) Otto Neurath's Economics in Context. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6905-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6905-5_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-6904-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-6905-5
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)