Download or read book Jean Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith written by Charles L Griswold and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-02 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith are giants of eighteenth century thought. The heated controversy provoked by their competing visions of human nature and society still resonates today. Smith himself reviewed Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality, and his perceptive remarks raise an intriguing question: what would a conversation between these two great thinkers look like? In this outstanding book Charles Griswold analyzes, compares and evaluates some of the key ways in which Rousseau and Smith address what could be termed "the question of the self". Both thinkers discuss what we are by nature (in particular, whether we are sociable or not), who we have become, whether we can know ourselves or each other, how best to articulate the human condition, what it would mean to be free, and whether there is anything that can be done to remedy our deeply imperfect condition. In the course of examining their rich and contrasting views, Griswold puts Rousseau and Smith in dialogue by imagining what they might say in reply to one another. Griswold’s wide-ranging exploration includes discussion of issues such as narcissism, self-falsification, sympathy, the scope of philosophy, and the relation between liberty, religion and civic order. A superb exploration of two major philosophers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith: A Philosophical Encounter is essential reading for students and scholars of these two figures, eighteenth century philosophy, the Enlightenment, moral philosophy, and the history of ideas. It will also be of interest to those in related disciplines such as political theory, economics, and religion.
Download or read book Politics in Commercial Society written by Istvan Hont and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars normally emphasize the contrast between the two great eighteenth-century thinkers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith. Rousseau is seen as a critic of modernity, Smith as an apologist. Istvan Hont, however, finds significant commonalities in their work, arguing that both were theorists of commercial society and from surprisingly similar perspectives. In making his case, Hont begins with the concept of commercial society and explains why that concept has much in common with what the German philosopher Immanuel Kant called unsocial sociability. This is why many earlier scholars used to refer to an Adam Smith Problem and, in a somewhat different way, to a Jean-Jacques Rousseau Problem. The two problems—and the questions about the relationship between individualism and altruism that they raised—were, in fact, more similar than has usually been thought because both arose from the more fundamental problems generated by thinking about morality and politics in a commercial society. Commerce entails reciprocity, but a commercial society also entails involuntary social interdependence, relentless economic competition, and intermittent interstate rivalry. This was the world to which Rousseau and Smith belonged, and Politics in Commercial Society is an account of how they thought about it. Building his argument on the similarity between Smith’s and Rousseau’s theoretical concerns, Hont shows the relevance of commercial society to modern politics—the politics of the nation-state, global commerce, international competition, social inequality, and democratic accountability.
Download or read book Adam Smith and Rousseau written by Maria Pia Paganelli and published by Edinburgh Studies in Scottish Philosophy. This book was released on 2018-02-18 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of Adam Smith and Jean-Jacques Rousseau scholars to explore the key shared concerns of these two great thinkers in politics, philosophy, economics, history, and literature. Looks at all aspects of the pivotal intellectual relationship between two key figures of the Enlightenment Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) and Adam Smith (1723-90) are two of the foremost thinkers of the European Enlightenment. They who made seminal contributions to moral and political philosophy and shaped some of the key concepts of modern political economy. Though we have no solid evidence that they met in person, we do know that they shared many friends and interlocutors.In particular, David Hume was Smith's closest intellectual associate and was also the one who arranged for Rousseau's stay in England in 1766. This collection brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of Adam Smith and Rousseau scholars to explore the key shared concerns of these two great thinkers in politics, philosophy, economics, history and literature
Download or read book The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society written by Dennis Carl Rasmussen and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adam Smith is popularly regarded as the ideological forefather of laissez-faire capitalism, while Rousseau is seen as the passionate advocate of the life of virtue in small, harmonious communities and as a sharp critic of the ills of commercial society. But, in fact, Smith had many of the same worries about commercial society that Rousseau did and was strongly influenced by his critique. In this first book-length comparative study of these leading eighteenth-century thinkers, Dennis Rasmussen highlights Smith&’s sympathy with Rousseau&’s concerns and analyzes in depth the ways in which Smith crafted his arguments to defend commercial society against these charges. These arguments, Rasmussen emphasizes, were pragmatic in nature, not ideological: it was Smith&’s view that, all things considered, commercial society offered more benefits than the alternatives. Just because of this pragmatic orientation, Smith&’s approach can be useful to us in assessing the pros and cons of commercial society today and thus contributes to a debate that is too much dominated by both dogmatic critics and doctrinaire champions of our modern commercial society.
Download or read book The Infidel and the Professor written by Dennis C. Rasmussen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dearest friends -- The cheerful skeptic (1711-1749) -- Encountering Hume (1723-1749) -- A budding friendship (1750-1754) -- The historian and the Kirk (1754-1759) -- Theorizing the moral sentiments (1759) -- Fêted in France (1759-1766) -- Quarrel with a wild philosopher (1766-1767) -- Mortally sick at sea (1767-1775) -- Inquiring into the Wealth of Nations (1776) -- Dialoguing about natural religion (1776) -- A philosopher's death (1776) -- Ten times more abuse (1776-1777) -- Smith's final years in Edinburgh (1777-1790) -- Hume's My Own Life and Smith's Letter from Adam Smith, LL. D. to William Strahan, Esq
Download or read book Being Me Being You written by Samuel Fleischacker and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-10-23 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern notions of empathy often celebrate its ability to bridge divides, to unite humankind. But how do we square this with the popular view that we can never truly comprehend the experience of being someone else? In this book, Samuel Fleischacker delves into the work of Adam Smith to draw out an understanding of empathy that respects both personal difference and shared humanity. After laying out a range of meanings for the concept of empathy, Fleischacker proposes that what Smith called “sympathy” is very much what we today consider empathy. Smith’s version has remarkable value, as his empathy calls for entering into the perspective of another—a uniquely human feat that connects people while still allowing them to define their own distinctive standpoints. After discussing Smith’s views in relation to more recent empirical and philosophical studies, Fleischacker shows how turning back to Smith promises to enrich, clarify, and advance our current debates about the meaning and uses of empathy.
Download or read book Liberty and Equality in Political Economy written by Nicholas Capaldi and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-27 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberty and Equality in Political Economy is an evolutionary account of the ongoing debate between two narratives: Locke and liberty versus Rousseau and equality. Within this book, Nicholas Capaldi and Gordon Lloyd view these authors and their texts as parts of a conversation, therefore highlighting a new perspective on the texts themselves.
Download or read book The Adam Smith Review written by Fonna Forman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-11-21 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adam Smith’s contribution to economics is well recognised, but scholars have recently been exploring anew the multidisciplinary nature of his works. The Adam Smith Review is a rigorously refereed annual review that provides a unique forum for interdisciplinary debate on all aspects of Adam Smith’s works, his place in history, and the significance of his writings to the modern world. It is aimed at facilitating debate between scholars working across the humanities and social sciences, thus emulating the reach of the Enlightenment world which Smith helped to shape. This eleventh volume brings together leading scholars from across several disciplines, and offers a particular focus on Smith and Rousseau. There is also an emphasis throughout the volume on the relationship between Smith’s work and that of other key thinkers such as Malthus, Newton, Freud and Sen.
Download or read book The Philosophers Quarrel written by Robert Zaretsky and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic collapse of the friendship between Rousseau and Hume, in the context of their grand intellectual quest to conquer the limits of human understanding. The rise and spectacular fall of the friendship between the two great philosophers of the eighteenth century, barely six months after they first met, reverberated on both sides of the Channel. As the relationship between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume unraveled, a volley of rancorous letters was fired off, then quickly published and devoured by aristocrats, intellectuals, and common readers alike. Everyone took sides in this momentous dispute between the greatest of Enlightenment thinkers. In this lively and revealing book, Robert Zaretsky and John T. Scott explore the unfolding rift between Rousseau and Hume. The authors are particularly fascinated by the connection between the thinkers' lives and thought, especially the way that the failure of each to understand the other--and himself--illuminates the limits of human understanding. In addition, they situate the philosophers' quarrel in the social, political, and intellectual milieu that informed their actions, as well as the actions of the other participants in the dispute, such as James Boswell, Adam Smith, and Voltaire. By examining the conflict through the prism of each philosopher's contribution to Western thought, Zaretsky and Scott reveal the implications for the two men as individuals and philosophers as well as for the contemporary world.
Download or read book How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life written by Russ Roberts and published by Portfolio. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How the insights of an 18th century economist can help us live better in the 21st century. Adam Smith became famous for The Wealth of Nations, but the Scottish economist also cared deeply about our moral choices and behavior--the subjects of his other brilliant book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). Now, economist Russ Roberts shows why Smith's neglected work might be the greatest self-help book you've never read. Roberts explores Smith's unique and fascinating approach to fundamental questions such as: - What is the deepest source of human satisfaction? - Why do we sometimes swing between selfishness and altruism? - What's the connection between morality and happiness? Drawing on current events, literature, history, and pop culture, Roberts offers an accessible and thought-provoking view of human behavior through the lenses of behavioral economics and philosophy"--
Download or read book The Theory of Moral Sentiments written by Adam Smith (économiste) and published by . This book was released on 1812 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Adam Smith Review written by Fonna Forman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-28 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adam Smith’s contribution to economics is well recognised, yet scholars have recently been exploring anew the multidisciplinary nature of his works. The Adam Smith Review is a rigorously refereed annual review that provides a unique forum for interdisciplinary debate on all aspects of Adam Smith’s works, his place in history, and the significance of his writings to the modern world. It is aimed at facilitating debate among scholars working across the humanities and social sciences, thus emulating the reach of the Enlightenment world which Smith helped to shape. This twelfth volume brings together leading scholars from across several disciplines and contributes to two particular themes. First, there is a focus on Adam Smith’s moral and political philosophy, exploring how Smith’s approach finds expression in both abstract philosophy and practical judgment. Second, there is a focus on epistemology, economics, and law, with innovative interpretations of Smithian theories.
Download or read book Adam Smith s Moral Philosophy written by Jerry Evensky and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-03 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adam Smith is the best known among economists for his book, The Wealth of Nations, often viewed as the keystone of modern economic thought. For many he has become associated with a quasi-libertarian laissez-faire philosophy. Others, often heterodox economists and social philosophers, on the contrary, focus on Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, and explore his moral theory. There has been a long debate about the relationship or lack thereof between these, his two great works. This work treats these dimensions of Smith's work as elements in a seamless moral philosophical vision, demonstrating the integrated nature of these works and Smith's other writings. This book weaves Smith into a constructive critique of modern economic analysis (engaging along the way the work of Nobel Laureates Gary Becker, Amarty Sen, Douglass North, and James Buchanan) and builds bridges between that discourse and the other social sciences.
Download or read book Jealousy of Trade written by Istvan Hont and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The author focuses on Adam Smith and his contemporaries, who pondered these issues, particularly the nature and development of commercial society. They attempted to come to terms with the claim that, on the one hand, the market was a decisive element in economic progress, and, on the other, that its workings depended upon the release of the immoral desires of fallen men and that its consequences were socially and politically destabilizing. Hont reconstructs the salient features of this controversy between the proponents of market sociability and its most trenchant critics. In doing so, he has helped to locate historically the most important arguments at the heart of the emergence of modernity."--Jacket.
Download or read book Adam Smith s Wealth of Nations written by Jerry Evensky and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jerry Evensky's analysis walks the reader through The Wealth of Nations, highlighting the work's relationship to Smith's larger moral philosophy.
Download or read book The Two Narratives of Political Economy written by Nicholas Capaldi and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-01-06 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captures the 17th-19th century origins and developments ofpolitical economy by editing original texts and illuminatingtheir relevance for today's political debate Political economy from the 17th century to the present can be captured in two narratives originating with Locke and Rousseau. Those original narratives were expanded in significant ways in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the editors argue that they still hold sway today. Edited original writings included in the anthology are from: Locke, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Tocqueville, Mill, Marx, Proudhon, Owen, the Federalist Papers, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, and the American Constitution. The editors have restricted their comments to the extensive introductions thereby allowing the original participants to speak for themselves. The readings included are intended to be instructive with respect to the origin and development of the two narratives rather than an exhaustive account of how thinkers and writers on economics advance the discipline of economics as a social science. Reviews "The editors provide a compelling collection to critically frame the clash of Political Economy which shapes modern democracies. Their selections and introductions expertly paint a picture of the contending schools to suggest how enduring these core challenges remain. By placing these writers within this great debate, the authors guide students to discover the essential questions of liberty, equality, and the proper role of the state at the core of the American economic debate." —Roberta Q. Herzberg, Utah State University Political Science "The real service performed by Capaldi and Lloyd is to provide generous excerpts from supporters of both narratives so that the reader can determine for themselves who best makes their case. I recommend this volume highly both to the individual interested in learning about the intellectual and political history of political economy and to the professor in search of a one-volume anthology on political economy for use in a course on economic thought." —Steven D. Ealy, Senior Fellow, Liberty Fund, Inc.
Download or read book Natural Law and the Origin of Political Economy written by Arild Saether and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-06-26 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Samuel Pufendorf’s work on natural law and political economy was extensive and has been cited by several important figures in the history of economic thought. Yet his name is rarely mentioned in textbooks on the history of economic thought, the history of political science or the history of philosophy. In this unprecedented study, Arild Sæther sheds new light both on Pufendorf’s own life and work, as well as his influence on his contemporaries and on later scholars. This book explores Pufendorf ’s doctrines of political economy and his work on natural law, which was translated into several major European languages. Natural Law and the Origin of Political Economy considers the influence he had on the writings on political economy of John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith, amongst others. If Smith can be called the father of modern economics, this book claims that Pufendorf can be called the grandfather. This volume is of great importance to those who study Pufendorf ’s extensive works, as well as those interested in history of economic thought, political economy and political philosophy.
