Continuity or rupture? An analysis of some aspects of the social philosophy of John Stuart Mill, Alfred Marshall and John Maynard Keynes

Abstract

It is argued in this paper that it’s possible to speak of a ‘tradition’ in the field of social and economic philosophy uniting the works of J.S.Mill, Alfred Marshall and John Maynard Keynes. This ‘tradition’ can be characterized by the following concepts: (a) by the rejection of the acquisitive values of capitalism; (b) by the ideia that capitalism would be incapable of spontaneously solving the problems of distribution of wealth and poverty; (c) by the idea that, for the sake of the preservation of liberty, diversity and economic efficiency, individual initiative should be free to act wherever it engenders good results, but that the State should intervene whenever the free initiative fails, acting in the good of collectivity; (d) by the belief that it would be possible to make capitalism significantly better by the way of small and gradual changes.

JEL Classification: B12; B13.