This paper aims to investigate some aspects of Marshall's social and economic philosophy. It is argued that he made great effort to extinguish poverty, for he considered it an evil that besides provoking intense distress to the poor, was responsible for their physical, moral and intellectual degradation. To rescue men, women and children from misery would be, for him, a pre-condition to human and social betterment. The paper analyses Marshall's reform agenda that included the direct combat of poverty and indigence, but also educational, sanitary, and urban planning policies. Despite the appearance of miscellaneous measures, these reforms, when viewed as a whole, complemented each other and aimed basically at breaking the 'vicious circle' of poverty and, by these means, at ameliorating human character and human life.
Alfred Marshall; social philosophy; poverty; social reform; human betterment