Gossen's Law of the Satiation of Want Every one knows that the desire for food decreases as the want is gradually satisfied, until, finally, when what we may call the "satiation point" is reached, the desire is for a certain time entirely allayed, and possibly changed into its opposite, surfeit and disgust. Every one knows that the same happens in the case of numerous other desires; satisfaction diminishes the craving, and in the end fully destroys and transforms it.
There are several authors who have the merit of having, independently of each other, extended this observation scientifically speaking, and made it the starting-point of their theory of value. These have been mentioned in the preface. Among them Gossen is worthy of particular notice, owing to the fate of the book in which he gave expression to his discovery and to his ideas on economics generally. His Entwicklung der Gesetze des menschlichen Verkehrs und der daraus fliessenden Regeln fur das menschliche Handeln, was published in Brunswick in 1854, but it almost entirely disappeared from sight in Germany, although its author had hoped to win for it a Copernican fame. Any one who reads the book will understand why, as well on account of the peculiarities of its excellences as of its faults, both of which are great. Jevons, in the introduction to the second edition of his Theory of Political Economy, and also Walras, in an essay which appeared in the Journal des Economistes in 1885, have given somewhat detailed accounts of both book and author. Economics owes a great debt to Gossen, and it is with this feeling that Icall the law of the satiation of want Gossen's Law, although my statement of it is not entirely in accordance with his.
It scarcely requires illustration. Gossen himself added to its clearness by the following addition. Alongside of the weakening effect which continued satisfaction has upon desire, we find also, in certain circumstances, the opposite tendency; that the desire grows by repetition and exercise, inasmuch as it is thus developed, gets to know itself, its own end and its own means, becomes purified and elevated. Thus, during the period of development, the law of diminishing desire meets with an opposite tendency, and the law applies unlimitedly only to wants which are entirely developed. Granting this, however, it applies to every want without exception.
There can be no doubt that it applies to those coarser material wants, which recur periodically, as, for instance, the desire for food. Here, however, we must distinguish between the want as a whole and the several feelings of want which are included in it.
The want as a whole of course retains its strength so long as man retains his health; satisfaction does not weaken but rather stimulates it, by constantly contributing to its development, and, particularly, by giving rise to a desire for variety. It is otherwise with the separate sensations of the want. These are narrowly limited both in point of time and in point of matter.
