今天有点想从导论开始按顺序看这本书,因为觉得自己前面总是“拣”着段落看,未免断章取义。结果刚看到第2段就看到了这个焦点关键词“ends”。竟然在开篇就提到这个词,可见其关键。这里先把原文贴在这里,大家看看到底这个“ends”该怎么解释:
Economics is the science of how a particular society solves its economic problems. An economic problem exists whenever scarce means are used to satisfy alternative ends. If the means are not scarce, there is no problem at all; there is Nirvana: If the means are scarce but there is only a single end, the problem of how to use the means is a technological problem. No value judgments enter into its solution, only knowledge of physical and technical relationships. For example, suppose given amounts of iron, labor, etc. areavailable and are to be used to build an engine of maximum horsepower. This is a purely technical problem that requires knowledge solely of engineering and of physical science. Alternatively, let the objective be to build the "best" engine, where the concept of "best" involves not only horsepower, but also weight, size, ete. There is no longer a single end. No amount of purely physical and technical knowledge can yield a solution, since such knowledge cannot tell you how much power it is"
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