Calculation and moral economies during French debate on the abolition of slavery.

The paper starts with a brief presentation of some key points stressing the central role attributed to calculation and the moral content of this epistemological device during the French debate on the abolition of slavery (§1), before explaining how the first calculations were done (§2). The following section shows that these calculations were still in use during the short period—from June 1848 to November 1849—when the time came to determine the precise amount to be given as compensation to the colonists after the loss of their property rights in enslaved people. Accordingly, the nature of property rights in the industrial society were at stake, either from the point of view of socialists thinkers or from the abolition process under the aegis of the government (§3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]