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Nationality | French-Italian |
Fields | Physical economics Physical sociology Econoengineering |
Alma matter | Polytechnic University of Turin Lausanne school |
Students | Emanuele Sella |
Known for | Circulation of elites Social spinning top Economic molecules Social molecules |
Collected works | 12+ volumes |
Eponyms | Pareto principle Spinning top social pyramid Harvard Pareto circle |
Influences | Isaac Newton, Jean D'Alembert, Niccolo Machiavelli, Leon Walras, Maffeo Pantaleoni, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer |
Influenced | Lawrence Henderson, Paul Samuelson, Tjalling Koopmans |
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“A marquis by birth, his long academic career never robbed him of either the tastes or the charm of manner of an Italian nobleman. Although professor at the University of Lausanne, for half of his long life he made his home in the quiet country village of Céligny, where, on the shores of the Lake of Geneva, he built the beautiful little Villa Angora. Here, with all the seclusion and comforts of a miniature country estate, and surrounded by numerous and beautiful specimens of Angora cats—his favorite pets and perpetual companions, which, in painted form, ornamented even the walls of his villa—he divided his time between writing books, and entertaining his friends. From his study, thus secluded, but filled with books of all ages and in all languages—-a veritable watch tower—he observed and studied the actions, customs, prejudices, motives, feelings, and thinking of his fellow men of all times, much as would an entomologist, at a safe distance, investigate the characteristics of a society of bees industriously shaping to their whims and needs, the social and material world around them. His objectivity and freedom from bias have rarely been surpassed in the academic field.”
“While the English and German scholars were issuing equally partisan and contradictory manifestos on the causes of the war, he calmly discussed the same great event as though it were taking place on the planet Mars.”
Term Definition Source Sentiment An attitude, thought, or judgment prompted by feeling: predilection; a specific view or notion: opinion; emotion; refined feeling: delicate sensibility especially as expressed in a work of art; emotional idealism; an ideal colored by emotion. Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary (2000) Residue The manifestation of a sentiment. Lawrence Henderson (1935) [1] Derivation A non-logical argument, explanation, assertion, appeal to authority, or association of ideas or sentiments in words. Lawrence Henderson (1935) [1] Logical action Actions of which the anticipated direct consequences are [probably] objectively and subjectively identical [to a first approximation]. Lawrence Henderson (1935) [1] Non-logical action Anything that is not a logical action. Ophelimity A simple type of utility, described by the study of acts of the homo economicus, derived from economic forces. Pareto (1897) [17]
“Each of us has within a secret adversary who tries to prevent him from abstaining from the mixture of his own sentiments with logical deductions from facts. In noting this general defect, I well know that I am not exempt. My sentiments lead me to favor freedom; therefore I have taken pains to react against them. But it may be that I have gone too far and, fearing to give too much weight to the arguments in favor of freedom, have not given them enough weight. Similarly, it is possible that, fearing to give too little weight to sentiments that I do not share, I have given them too much. In any case, since I am not quite sure that this source of error is absent, it is my duty to point it out.”Henderson (1935) gives the following examples of sentiments: [1]
“A desire to solve a scientific problem, a feeling that justice exists, a sense of the value of certain customs and rites, a need to participate in the acts of a cult, a feeling of personal integrity, a sense of loyalty to a community, a sexual complex.”
In other words, the main classes of residues, as summarized by Andrew Bongiorno (1930), are: combination-residues, which compel men to innovate; persistence of aggregates, residues which compel men to conserve; those which compel men to express their sentiments by means of outward acts; those which make a man a social being; the residues of the integrity of the individual; and sexual residues. [28]
Residues Derivations 1. Instinct of combinations. 1. Affirmation. 2. Persistence of aggregates. 2. Authority. 3. Need to manifest sentiments by external acts. 3. Accord with sentiments or with principles. 4. Residues related to sociability. 4. Verbal proofs. 5. Integrity of individual and of what he considers dependent upon him. 6. Sexual residuals.
Laussane school of physical socioeconomics | ||
Auguste Walras (1801-1866) | ||
●———— || | | Leon Walras (1834-1910) | |
Leon Winiarski (1865-1915) | Maffeo Pantaleoni (1857-1924) | Pareto (1848-1923) |
| | | | |
●———— | ——— ● ——— | ———— ● |
| | ||
Emanuele Sella (1879-1946) | ||
The connectivity tree of hard science based economics philosophy of the Lausanne school starting from French socioeconomist Leon Walrus to the two cultures synergy of Italian economist Maffeo Pantaleoni, to that of Emanuele Sella who studied under Pantaleoni, to that of Italian political economist Claudia Rotondi, who did her 1995 PhD on Pantaleoni, Pareto, and Sella. |
“Pareto’s father died in 1882; and after the death of his mother in 1889, the family household in Florence broke up and Pareto changed his entire way of living. He threw up the managing directorship of the firm and, instead, accepted a consultancy. Marrying a penniless Russian girl from Venice, Allessandrina (‘Dina’) Bakunin, he moved from Florence to a villa in Fiesole. He made use of his new leisure to launch a personal crusade against the government’s foreign and domestic policies. Between 1889 and 1893 he wrote 167 articles, many of the scholarly, but the vast majority anti-government polemics. His public lectures in a working men’s institute were closed by the police [see: human molecule (banned)], and he became a marked man in government circles.
In 1898, his uncle died leaving him a legacy the value of which [is] estimated at about ₣200,000 [$134 million US dollars in equivalent 2013 terms]. Cynthia Russett has also commented that his father, previously, had left him a lifetime income, which had allowed him to retire in the first place, and to devote himself to the study of mathematical economics.
“In the course of these activities, he became closely acquainted with other free-trading publicists and economists of the day and with one of these, Maffeo Pantaleoni, the economist, he formed a warm friendship which was to endure for the rest of his life. Through, Pantaleoni, Pareto developed an interest in pure economics and became acquainted with the new, mathematically expressed equilibrium system developed by Walras, the professor of political economy at Lausanne. He soon began to contribute acute and learned articles expounding Walras’ doctrine in the Giornale degli Economisti. For these his early mathematical training had equipped him superbly and they gained him international recognition. In 1893, with some intermediation from Pantaleoni, Pareto succeeded Walras in the chair of political economy at Lausanne; in 1894 this appointment was made permanent.
Pareto’s first important publication was the two-volume Cours d’Economie Politique (1896), based on his university lectures.
The other reason which contributed to the revolution in his thinking—and which incidentally also drove him to seek retirement from his teaching career for the sake of pure academic research—was an idea that came to him in his reflections on the astonishing popularity of Marxism in Italy. How was it that propositions which, in his view, were so demonstrably false had come to be regarded by the best youth in Italy as—to us his own words—a ‘new gospel’? In 1897 the idea suddenly came to him that the bulk of human activity is not due to rational processes at all but to sentiments. Men feel an urge and act; they invent justifications afterwards. He now burned to devote himself to writing a sociology based on this new principle.
His new views were first expressed in 1900 in a long article for Rivista Italiana di Sociologia and then in his book Les Systemes Socialistes (1901-02). They were further developed in his Manuel of Political Economy (1906). In 1907, he retired from his chair at Lausanne (though he continued to deliver lectures on sociology until 1916), and decided to write the long-meditated work on sociology—Treatise on General Sociology—completing it in 1912. Publishing delays and the outbreak of war postponed its appearance until 1916.”
“Comparison to a system of material points is the only comparison, in our opinion, which can explicate the very complicated actions and reactions of social phenomena, and which can thus give us a clear idea of economic equilibrium.”— Pareto (1897), Course on Political Economy, Volume 2 (pg. 26)
See main: see: human thermodynamics variables tableThe following, below right, from the second volume (pgs. 12-13), is a 1971 English translation, by translator Ann S. Schwier, of Pareto's famous 1897 mechanical-to-sociology comparison table, below left hyperlinked text version: [17]
Mechanical phenomenon | Social phenomenon |
Given a certain number of solids, we study their relations of equilibrium and movement abstracted from the other properties. We obtain thus a study of mechanics. The science of mechanics is divided into two others. If we consider inextensibly connected material points we obtain a pure science, rational mechanics, which studies in an abstract way the forces of equilibrium and movement. The easiest part of science is equilibrium. D’Alembert’s principle, considering the forces of inertia, enables the reduction of the dynamic problem to a static one. From rational mechanics comes applied mechanics, which is a little closer to reality, considering elasticity, friction, etc. Real solids not only have mechanical properties of the phenomena caused by light, electricity and heat. Chemistry studies other properties. Thermodynamics, like other sciences, studies some of these properties in detail. All these sciences constitute the physical-chemical sciences. | Given a society, we study the relations of production and wealth between men, abstracted from other circumstances. We obtain thus the study of political economy. The science of political economy is divided into two others. If we consider the homo economicus who acts only as a result of economic forces, we obtain political economy, which studies in abstract terms ophelimity. The only part of this which is well known is static equilibrium. There may be a principle for economic systems analogous to D’Alembert’s, but at present our knowledge is very poor. The theory of economic crisis offers an example of dynamic study. From pure political economy comes applied political economy, which does not consider solely homo economicus, but also other models of humankind closer to reality. Men and women have other characteristics which are studies by other particular sciences, such as law, religion, aesthetics, the organization of society, and so on. Some of these have quite a high level of development, others on the contrary, have not. As a whole they constitute the social sciences. |
If we wish to consider a concrete fact, all these sciences must be taken into account because they have been separated through a process of abstraction. | |
In reality, solids with only mechanical properties do not exist. It is a mistake to assume the existence of concrete phenomena subject only to mechanical forces, abstracted form chemical ones, as it is to assume that concrete phenomena may be subtracted from the laws of rational mechanics. | In reality, persons who are subject only to economic stimuli do not exist. It is a mistake to assume the existence of the concrete phenomenon subject only to economic motivations, abstracted from other considerations, just as it is to assume that a concrete phenomenon may be subtracted from the laws of pure economics. |
The practice differs from the theory precisely because practice must take into account a quantity of secondary characters which are not studied in the theory. The relative importance of primary and secondary characters is not the same from the general point of view of science and from the particular point of view of a practical operation. Syntheses have sometimes been attempted. An attempt has been made to find the cause of all phenomena in: | |
The attraction of atoms. An attempt has been made to reduce to all physical and chemical forces from a fundamental unity. | Utility, of which ophelimity is simply a type. An attempt has been made to explain all phenomena in terms of biological evolution. |
These are all interesting studies. But we must not resist these hypotheses and not go far from the solid basis of experience. |
“Progress in the purely scientific sense of political economy are considerable. Books such as Mathematical Psychics, F. L. Edgeworth, Principii di economia pura [Pure Economics], Maffeo Pantaleoni, Mathematical Investigations in the Theory of Value and Prices, Irving Fisher, etc., are written in a purely scientific point of view. A similar attempt is one of my courses, in the first volume, published in 1896, I said: "In all treatises on political economy, the main part is formed by the science of ophélimité and utility.”
Economic molecules
“Pareto views society as a system of human molecules which are in a complex mutual relationship.”
“Human society appears to us as a vast aggregate of molecules, rendering services, consume products and save, and centers, or glands, where savings are transformed into capital and products, some ...” “La société humaine nous apparait ainsi comme un vaste agrégate de molécules, qui rendent des services, consomment des produits et épargnent; et de centres, ou de glandes, où l’épargne se transforme en capitaux, et les produits, les uns …” (pg. 70) “The economic phenomenon is not a static phenomenon, it is a dynamic phenomenon. The molecules which together represent the social aggregate oscillate perpetually. We may for the sake of analysis take certain average economic positions, as we take the average level of the ocean.” “Le phénomène économique n'est pas un phénomène statique, c'est un phénomène dynamique. Les molécules dont l'ensemble représente l'agrégat social oscillent perpétuellement.” (pg. 277) “The theories of mathematical physics teach us how the vibrations of material molecules interfere and overlap. One day, perhaps, will we have similar theory of economic vibrations.” “Les théories de la physique mathématique nous enseignent comment les vibrations des molécules matérielles interfèrent et se superposent. Un jour, peut-être , aurons-nous de semblables théories pour les vibrations économiques.” (pg. 278) “In service of the equilibrium of the molecules of the economic aggregate, we see movement of these molecules, and finally we see rise of the conception of the whole aggregate which is in motion and vibration.” “ser en équilibre les molécules de l'agrégat économique ; ensuite nous avons considéré certains mouvements de ces molécules; enfin nous nous élevons à la conception d'un agrégat qui est tout entier en mouvement et en vibration.” (279) “A social aggregate can be viewed in a similar appearance to that under which the elasticity theory considers molecule aggregates material. We conclude with a test of social physiology, we conduit ....” “Un agrégat social pourra alors être considéré sous un aspect analogue à celui
sous lequel la théorie de l'élasticité considère les agrégats de molécules
matérielles. Nous terminons par un essai de physiologie sociale, qui nous
conduit de ....” (pg. 409)
“The curve of the distribution of wealth in our society, varies little from one era to another. What is called social pyramid is in reality a sort of spinning top, which the following figure gives an idea:This is shown below, with additional quote: [17]
Rich occupying the summit, the poor are at the base. Abcgf the part of the curve we are only well known, thanks to the statistical data. The adef part is only speculative. We have adopted the form indicated by Otto Ammon
“The molecules of which the social aggregate is composed don’t stay at rest; some individuals enrich themselves, other impoverish themselves.”— Pareto (c.1902)and which seems to us quite likely that the shape of the curve is not due to chance. It probably depends on the distribution of the physiological and psychological characteristics of men. Moreover. can, in part, relate to the theories of pure economics, that is to say, the choice of men (these choices are specifically related to the physiological and psychological characteristics) and the obstacles encountered in production.
Assuming men arranged in layers according to their wealth, figure abcgfed is the outer form of the social organism. From what we have said this form does not change much, it can be assumed nearly constant on average and for a short time. But the molecules that make up the social aggregate do not remain at rest; individuals get richer, others poorer. So quite extensive are the agitated movements within the social organism, which resembles, in this, a living organism. In the latter, the blood flow is rapidly moving some molecules, the absorption and secretion processes continually change the molecules composing the tissue, while the external shape of the body, such as an adult animal, feels only insignificant changes.
Assuming men arranged in layers according to other characters, such as their intelligence, their ability to study mathematics, their musical talent, poetic, literary, their moral character, etc., it is likely to have curves forms more or less similar to what we just found for the distribution of wealth.”
“§73. Economic crises. The economic complexus is composed of molecules which vibrate continuously; this is a consequence of the nature of man and of the economic problems which he has to solve. These movements may occur in different directions, and in that case …”
“The ruling idea in economic studies following those of Adam Smith was wealth. Later it became the idea of value and is so still in the case of many writers. The science has contained in a sporadic shape much material for a science of economic equilibrium, such as has been suggested by Pareto in a work which makes only a beginning of a study of economic dynamics.
In describing dynamic phenomena comparisons are used which were formerly taken from mechanics, but now more usually from biology. Economic agents are thought of either as molecules subjected to equal pressure in all directions, or, on the other hand, as parts of a living body subjected to equal stimuli, which are mutually counteracting. There is little use in disputing as to which method is better, since the useful thing is to apply a method rather than to argue about it.
Economic dynamics may be defined as a study of movements of disequilibrium, which lead to positions of equilibrium. When an individual spends his income so as to bring into a proportion the marginal utility of different articles within his purchasing power, the equilibrium exists and is rightly called static, because it will continue indefinitely and return if disturbed. Until this condition is reached, modifications in his demand or in his supply are likely to take place, and the quantity of the goods coming within his reach will change and these changes affect both the man himself and the persons he deals with, involving both the quantity of goods available and the incomes of different producers. The state of equilibrium yields the maximum of satisfaction relatively to the initial position and to the changes which this allows.
The term homo economicus—a Linnaeus-themed variant of John Mill's 1836 generic utility maximizing "economic man"—is said to be attributed to the work of Pareto and his 1896 statement that: "man himself; stripping him of a large number of his attributes, leaving out the passions, good or bad, reducing him to a kind of molecule that only acts in response to the forces of ophelimity”, which, as summarized by Australian economics historian Michael McLure (2002), is an abstract entity that only responds to the forces of ophelimity, in other words "an abstract molecule that acts only in response to economic forces". [17] |
In every society purely economic motives have an extending or contracting radius of activity; in other words, the zones of economic action grow larger or smaller. As Pareto says:
Australian economics historian Michael McLure has discussed Pareto’s economic molecule theory in comparison to this generic homo economicus—one who attempts to maximize utility as a consumer and economic profit as a producer—a term deriving from John Mill’s “economic man” utility logic, such that Pareto’s homo economicus is ‘an abstract molecule that responds only to economic forces’. McLure elaborates further: [17]“Man’s actual conduct resembles that of the homo economicus, or that of the homo ethicus, or that of the homo religiosus. It is sometimes a composite of all these characters. There are concrete phenomena in which the economic influences transcend all others, and here it is possible to consider alone the results deduced by economic reasoning; while there are other phenomena in which the economic constituent is insignificant and may be neglected. There are still others which are intermediate in character.”
To this we in the main agree, but find it necessary to examine variations of the zones in which all these homines move, and we must notice that even the homo economicus in his own proper capacity is modified when he enters into a composite with the others.”
“In pure theory, homo economicus of Cours [on Political Economy] is analogous to a molecule in the theory of mechanics (note: the impersonal subject pronoun has been used because the homo economicus is an abstract ‘molecule’, not a person). Kirman has pointed out that ‘Pareto regarded equilibrium as the termination point of a process … The time taken for this process is not specified but it certainly is not regarded as … as negligible (Kirman 1987, pg. 806).”
Pareto's 1912 four-volume magnum opus Treatise on General Sociology, reprinted in 1935 under the English title The Mind and Society, wherein he applies chemistry, physics, and mechanics to the study of man, defined as a type of molecule, sociologically and economically (see: power center). [10] |
“§2079. Organization of the social system. The economic system is made up of certain molecules set in motion by tastes and subject to …” (pg. 1442)Again, these are fairly advanced speculations for 1916, in much need of analysis.
“… and molecules have certain thermic, electrical, and other properties. So a system made up of social molecules also has certain properties that are important to consider. One among them has been perceived, be it in a rough and crude fashion, in every period of history—the one to which with little or no exactness the term ‘utility’ …” (pg. 1456)
“… subsist in certain relationships. The reasonings (derivations), theories, beliefs that are current in the mass of such molecules are taken as manifestations of the [psychic] state of that mass and are studied as facts on a par with other facts that society presents to view. We look for uniformities among them, and try to get back to the facts in which the in turn originate.” (pg. 1919)
“Action and reaction follow one another indefinitely as if in a circle”— Vilfredo Pareto (1912), Treatise on General Sociology (Ѻ)
“The writing of my Treatise on General Sociology was driven by the desire to bring an indispensable complement to the studies of political economy and inspired by the example of the natural sciences that I determined to begin my Treatise on General Sociology the sole purpose of which—I say sole and I insist upon the point—is to seek experimental reality, by the application to the social sciences of the methods which have proved themselves in physics, in chemistry, in astronomy, in biology, and in other such sciences.”
“No one knows better than I how imperfect this treatise is; but even if it ought soon be forgotten, I hope that it will have been of some use, as a stone that is part of a great building: that of experimental science.”
Pareto's general theory of molecular economic vibration overlap. [33] |
“The molecules of which the social aggregate is composed don’t stay at rest; some individuals enrich themselves, other impoverish themselves.”
“As a matter of fact, there was an incessant—to use Pareto’s term—circulation des aristocracies. The elements that composed the uppermost stratum around 900 had practically disappeared by 1500. The Medici are not really an exception.”
“It can be shown that in all cases, that human molecules rise and fall within the class into which they are born, in a manner which fits the hypothesis that they do so because of their relative aptitudes; and it can also be shown, second, that they rise and fall across the boundary lines of their class in the same manner. This rise and fall into higher and lower classes as a rule takes more than one generation. These molecules are therefore families [see: family molecule] rather than individuals. And this explains why observers who focus attention on individuals so frequently fail to find any relation between ability and class position.”
Pareto reading (c.1912) at about the time of publication of his Treatise on General Sociology. |
“First we separate the study of ophelimity (economic satisfaction) from the diverse forms of utility, then we direct our attention to man himself; stripping him of a large number of his attributes, leaving out the passions, good or bad, reducing him to a kind of molecule that only acts in response to the forces of ophelimity.”
Socioeconomic Chemical Thermodynamics | ||
Physico-chemical system Gibbs (1876) | + | Socio-economic system Pareto (1912) |
Henderson's theory Lawrence Henderson (1935) | ||
In 1935, American physiologist Lawrence Henderson theorized that Pareto's 1912 mechanics based socioeconomic equilibrium theory, while not directly based on the chemical thermodynamics based equilibrium theories of American engineer Willard Gibbs, are nevertheless arguing the same point of view, and hence modern socioeconomic equilibrium theories will need to be reformulated in the physical chemistry reaction terms of chemical thermodynamics, a unified synthesis of Gibbs and Pareto, in short. [1] |
“Pareto’s work appealed to social scientists who had lost faith in the rationality of the public but not in the rationality of science. Henderson fit the bill perfectly: he was so taken with Pareto’s ideas that he led a faculty seminar on Pareto at Harvard in the early 1930s, from which emerged Henderson’s study Pareto’s General Sociology: a Physiologist’s Interpretation.
Pareto’s mathematical analysis of society was based on his engineer’s understanding of the thermodynamics of equilibrium systems. For example, one of Pareto’s central concepts was that of ‘ophelimity’, now usually called Pareto optimality. Ophelimity was a redefinition of marginal utility in thoroughly thermodynamic terms. Pareto defined a system as having maximum ophelimity when the increase of the ophelimity of any element in the system necessarily reduced that of some other element (or elements) in the system. Thus ophelimity, like energy, always was conserved in a closed system, making the reallocation of ophelimity a zero-sum game. This concept, it should be noted, especially welfare economics, where it plays an important role in the work of Paul Samuelson and Abram Berg.”
“Gibbs considers temperature, pressure, and concentrations, so Pareto considers sentiments, or, strictly speaking, the manifestations of sentiments in words and deeds, verbal elaborations, and …”
The so-called Harvard Pareto circle that solidified at Harvard University from 1932 to 1942, owing to the promotion of Pareto's work by American physical chemist, biochemist, physiologist, and sociologist Lawrence Henderson. |
“It is very unlikely that the general characteristics of Gibbs’ system had anything to do with Pareto’s construction of his social system. In other words, it is very probable, I thing certain, that Pareto did not keep Gibbs’ work in mind and a fortiori that he did not imitate it, when he worked out his social system; so that Pareto’s system is not the result of the application of the theories of physical chemistry to sociology.”
“This simple example illustrates [the] logical principles [physical chemistry] that find universal application in the physical, biological, and social sciences.”
“There is a direct link from the equilibrium analysis of Gibbs (1877), through Henderson (1935), who was a great admirer of both Gibbs and Pareto, to Parson (1951), thus the bulk of social systems analysis, particularly functionalism, is rooted in Gibbsian equilibrium analysis.”
“In popular parlance we speak of ‘chemistry’ of personal and group relationships. Vilfredo Pareto (1916) had a rather different sort of social chemistry in mind when he transposed his theory of social equilibria directly from the theory of chemical equilibria advanced by chemist J. Willard Gibbs.”
“The concept of resilience—time to recovery, the rate of speed of return to pre-existing conditions after disturbance (engineering resilience); the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system changes its structure by changing the variables and processes that control behavior (ecological resilience)—has increasingly gained recognition and acceptance and it is now frequently used in many fields. In the early 20th century, economists and sociologists, such as Vilfredo Pareto began to apply J. Willard Gibbs’ equilibrium criterion to the modeling of economic systems and social systems (Bailey, 1990).”
“The ‘energy’ of mechanics must not be confused with the ‘energy’ of ordinary parlance, nor is it excusable to imagine that a mechanical ‘live force’ is a force that is alive. If one would know the meaning of ‘entropy’ one had better glance at a treatise on thermodynamics.”
“When Schmoller challenged Pareto, saying that there were no economic laws, Pareto politely asked if there were any restaurants where one might eat for nothing. Schmoller disdainfully replied that one always had to pay something. That, retorted Pareto, was natural economic law.”
“Pareto's theory is that pure science is science is ‘rational mechanics’. Pure political economy, therefore, becomes a mathematical science. He begins with man as a ‘hedonistic molecule’ in which the economic factor is the primary force. But an analysis of the molecule into its component parts demonstrates its complexity and the presence of many other forces. Each factor must be studied separately and then all the factors recombined to form a synthetic concept of a real society or sociology.”— Howard W. Odum (1929), Introduction to Social Research [38]
“Pareto’s Treatise on General Sociology is the hardest boiled book I have ever read. Three times, since I passed my puberty, has my mind been made over. Once by a nexus of which Henry Adams was the center, once by a matrix of which Frazer burned brightest, and once by a long study of genetics and evolution. Pareto is doing the job a fourth time, and far more vitally than any others.”— Bernard DeVoto (c.1930) [27]
“Pareto’s monumental work, Trattato di Sociologia Generale, lies before us as the most massive and impressive statement of the mechanistic conception of social life.”— Werner Stark (1962), Fundamental Forms of Social Thought [23]
“Pareto was one of the last Renaissance scholars. Trained in physics and mathematics, he became a polymath whose genius radiated into nearly all other major fields of knowledge.”— Joseph Lopreato (1999), Publication (co-author: Sandra Rusher) (Ѻ)
“Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truths for yourself.”— Vilfredo Pareto (c.1910), comment on Johannes Kepler [1]
“My wish is to construct a system of sociology on the model of celestial mechanics, physics, and chemistry.”— Vilfredo Pareto (1912), Treatise on General Sociology (pg. #) [5]