economic-value-of-human-life

The chapter opens with a calculation equating the cost of childbirth and child-rearing to the economic value of a working adult, referencing the price of enslaved children to illustrate human commodification.

1 chapter across 1 book

Pandaemonium: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers 1660-1886 (1985)Humphrey Jennings

4. The Charge of maintaining a woman 30 dayes in Child bed may well be defrayed for under 30 shillings; but if the value of mankind be in this age & country 70£ per head, a new born Child, bread up to fair hard work for 25 yeares, will be very well worth 3 times 30 shillings, as may be seen in the price of Negros Children in the American plantations.

This chapter presents a series of excerpts from late 17th to early 18th century texts reflecting on the value of human life in economic terms, debates on animal consciousness and mechanistic philosophy, early industrial education proposals, miners' folklore, and scientific experiments on compressed air. It juxtaposes utilitarian views on human and child worth with philosophical skepticism about animals as mere machines, while also documenting early industrial and scientific observations that reveal the period's evolving understanding of nature, labor, and technology.