Calculation and moral economies during French debate on the abolition of slavery

Bibliographic Data

ID21604534
AuthorsCaroline Oudin-Bastide (Independent Researcher, Paris, France), Philippe Steiner (0000-0002-0476-6527, Sorbonne Université and PHARE, Paris, France, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume30
Issue6
Pages985-1002
Publication date2023-11-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of the History of Economic Thought (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0967-2567 • E-ISSN: 1469-5936
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09672567.2023.2239966
OpenAlexW4385271661
LanguageEN
References cited15

The paper starts with a brief presentation of some key points stressing the central role attributed to calculation and the moral content of this epistemological device during the French debate on the abolition of slavery (§1), before explaining how the first calculations were done (§2). The following section shows that these calculations were still in use during the short period—from June 1848 to November 1849—when the time came to determine the precise amount to be given as compensation to the colonists after the loss of their property rights in enslaved people. Accordingly, the nature of property rights in the industrial society were at stake, either from the point of view of socialists thinkers or from the abolition process under the aegis of the government (§3)

Business · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political science · Property rights · Sociology · European Political History Analysis · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Psychology

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