Equilibrium in Chemistry and in Economics: an Interdisciplinary Comparison

ABSTRACT – When neoclassical economics was introduced, at the end of the nineteenth century, it was widely saluted as being as sound and objective in its conclusions as the natural sciences. This was on account of its laws being formalised in mathematical terms, in line with what had happened in the natural sciences once Newton?s methodology had replaced Decartes?. The scientific character of neoclassical economics was re-affirmed, with increased vigour, after the so-called „formalistic revolution? of the 1950s and „60s,1 which had the formulation of General Equilibrium Theory as one of its landmarks. Ever since, the recommendations of neoclassical economics have been implemented as scientific and value-free. The use of mathematical formalism, however, is not, in itself, sufficient to affirm the scientific character of a discipline. Other criteria should be satisfied, for instance, that its key-concepts were formulated according to the same methodology and had, therefore, the same epistemological status as those of the natural sciences. The concept of equilibrium is crucial in economics as well as in the natural sciences; this paper discusses how it is treated in the two domains, with explicit reference to chemistry as representative of the situation in the natural sciences. The discussion, based on historical and philosophical arguments, concludes that the concept of equilibrium is deployed in altogether different manners in chemsitry and in economics, and this conclusion weakens the claim that economics is similar to a natural science.