18,464 research outputs found
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
Full text linkAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
How Might Adam Smith Pay Professors Today?
Full text linkAdam Smith’s proposal for paying professors was intended to induce increased faculty knowledge. If students have imperfect information about what they learn, and universities can only imperfectly measure the input of faculty time in student learning, publications may be used to measure faculty knowledge. If professors’ ability to publish is positively related to their ability to produce student learning, which universities can imperfectly measure, publications may be necessary to attract more able professors. Since research signals faculty knowledge, schools that do not value publications per se could require higher publication standards and pay higher wages than schools that value only publications.
The Fountains of Łódź: Their Relevance to the Lives of its Inhabitants
Full text linkThis paper presents the characteristics of the fountains of Łódź, their location in the public spaces of the city and changes in various time periods. Special attention is drawn to the function of fountains in contemporary cities and their social perception. Moreover, in the last part, the presumed reasons for their present distribution and typological variety are given
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
Full text linkThe conventional interpretation of Adam Smith is that he is a prophet of commercialism. The liberal capitalist reading of Smith is consistent with the view that history culminates in commercial society. The first part of the article develops this optimistic interpretation of Smith's view of history. Smith implies that commercial society is the end of history because 1) it supplies the ends of nature that he identifies; 2) it is inevitable; and 3) it is permanent. The second part of the article shows that Smith has some dark moments in his writings where he seems to reject completely such teleological notions. In this more civic humanist mood he confesses that commercial society does not supply the ends of nature, nor is it inevitable, nor is it permanent. Both views exist in Smith and the commentator is forced to choose between passages in Smith's work in order to support a particular interpretation of the former's view of history.Political Economy,
On the Bartnik mass of two-spheres with non-negative constant mean curvature
No full textWe establish three new upper bounds on the Bartnik quasi-local mass of triples (S²,g,H) where S² is a topological two sphere, g is a Riemannian metric on S², and H ≥ 0 is a specified (constant) value for the initial mean curvature. We use the initial data set approach under the additional assumptions of time-symmetry (TS) and the dominant energy condition (DEC) in which one first constructs a collar with initial boundary sphere isometric to (S² g) and then extends to an asymptotically flat (AF) 3-manifold with non-negative scalar curvature (which is the DEC under the TS setting).
The first bound extends the main result in [Mantoulidis-Schoen "On the Bartnik mass of apparent horizons"] to include the boundary case. Precisely, we show that any metric g with non-negative first eigenvalue of the operator -Δ_g + K_g appears as an apparent horizon (in the TS/DEC/AF setting) and that its Bartnik mass is precisely the corresponding Hawking mass.
The second bound establishes that the Bartnik mass of the triple (S²,g,H) is bounded above by r/2 whenever g has non-negative Gaussian curvature K_g and H > 0. This result was known when K_g is assumed to be strictly positive (see [Miao-Xie "Bartnik mass via vacuum extensions"]) though the methods used there do not apply when min K_g =0.
For the last bound, given any metric g with K_g ≥ 0 and any H > 0, we give an explicit constant C (depending only on g and H) such that the Bartnik mass of the triple (S²,g,H) is bounded above by a quantity involving C which approaches the Hawking mass as C → 0, which happens as either H → 0 or as g becomes round. Moreover, C remains bounded if H → ∞ or r² min K_g → 0. This result can be extended to arbitrary metrics (that do not necessarily satisfy K_g ≥ 0) although the resulting bound in this case is only finite if H is sufficiently large depending on g.Science, Faculty ofMathematics, Department ofGraduat
Adam Smith and Roman Servitudes
Full text linkThis essay is a preprint of an article that appeared at: Tijdschrift voor Rechstsgeschiedenis, 72 (2004), 327–57.This essay discusses Adam Smith historical jurisprudence and his use of Roman law materials in his Lectures on Jurisprudence. It argues that Smith found it difficult to maintain his theory of legal development in the face of a highly developed body of Roman law literature
THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF ADAM SMITH'S WORK
Full text linkThe paper will discuss the theological foundation to Smith's writings. Teleology, final causes and divine design were initially seen as central to understanding Smith's writings. Over time, this view fell out of fashion. In the period after World War II, with the rise of positivism, commentators tended to overlook or downplay this interpretation. In the last decade, or so, teleology has started to be restored to its former position as an essential element in understanding Smith. After spelling out Smith's teleology and his view of final causes, divine design and the ends of nature, we try to explain the Panglossian nature of the 'new theistic view' of Smith. While our view differs somewhat, we agree with the essence of the 'new view' claim: a theological view exists in Smith which underpins his moral and economic theories.Political Economy,
Interview. Matthew Joseph with Adam Gussow, musician and author
Full text linkInterview in which Adam Gussow discusses hill country blues musi
The localization of the water mills in the city of Lodz area as an example of application of the historic cartographic sources
No full textThe paper is an attempt at application of the many historic sources for the investigation of the localization and period of working the watermills in the area defined by the contemporary administrative border of city of Lodz. Many of manuscripts and cartographic documents have been used which are in the Library of the University of Lodz collected. A cartographic materials from the National Archive in Lodz and the many elaborations regarding to the history and geography of the city and the region were also used. The authors pay attention to the need of cartographic information verification which is connected with an analysis of the maps in the old and following elaborations. In the pre-industrial period in the area of contemporary city of Lodz the presence of many small, rapidly flowing streams, was the cause of building a range of devices powered by water. Not only were they used for grinding but also for cutting wood (sawmills) or the production of cloth (fulleries). The first watermills appeared in the area in the fourteenth century (gristmills: Wojtowski, Grobelny and Chachula) during the construction of a dense network of watermills in the lands the Bishopric of Wloclawek. At that time, one mill fell even at only 1.5 villages. All of them have been built on the example of the watermill on the Bzura in Leczyca, dated for the 1145, the oldest in Poland (Grabarczyk et al., 2003). The number of watermills was constantly changing. Some were repaired, others were on fire, flooded by the water or were abandoned. Their number gradually increased until the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Based on the analysis of cartographic materials (in addition to the written sources) the map of the distribution of watermills in the area of contemporary Lodz has been compiled (fig. 1). In different time periods in the past there were at least 26 water mills on the rivers flowing within the present administrative boundaries of Lodz. From historical sources we know that some of them were built illegally and they were not recorded in the preserved tax records. On many old maps the names of the watermills were omitted, incorrectly placed or twisted (fig. 2).
Rozmieszczenie młynów wodnych na obszarze Łodzi...
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Adam Bartnik, Dorota Bartnik The greatest importance for the industrial development of the city of Lodz had the Jasien river. Since the Middle Ages the strength of its water was used by several mills. The later areas over that river were designed for the development of the textile industry. In the sites of the former watermills starch factories, mangles, fulleries and spinning were built. Yet for some time they were driven by the water (fig. 3). Most watermills have been operated at the same time in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, at the end of agricultural period of Lodz (fig. 4). In the following years their number dropped rapidly (for about a half in the early twentieth century). The water drive has been gradually replaced firstly by the steam drive and then by the electric drive. A few of watermills that survived until World War II, were located on the outskirts of the city. On the maps from the 60s. they have been appeared only three of them: Swiatniki watermill and Laskowice watermill on the river of Ner and Rokita watermill on river of Jasien. At that time they were certainly driven by electricity. More than a quarter of Lodz watermills were operated, with a breaks, 400 or more years and the half at least 300 years (table 1). The average duration of their activities was approx. 290 years (it is the estimated value, based on the data which have been previously mentioned).W artykule przedstawiono wykorzystanie różnych źródeł histotycznych do badania położenia i okresu pracy młynów wodnych w rejonie wyznaczonym przez współczesną granicę administracyjną miasta Łodzi. Podczas analizy wykorzystano manuskrypty i dokumenty kartograficzne, które zgromadzono w Bibliotece Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego. Ponadto wykorzystano też materiały kartograficzne przechowywane w Archiwum Państwowym w Łodzi oraz liczne opracowania dotyczące historii i geografii miasta oraz regionu. Autorzy artykułu zwracają uwagę na rzetelność pozyskanych informacji kartograficznych. Wskazują, że często przekaz kartograficzny bywa błędny na skutek braku aktualizacji treści mapy lub złej transformacji informacji opisowej na przestrzenną. Z tego względu autorzy zalecają szczególną ostrożność co do interpretacji istnienia obiektów przedstawianych na mapach (szczególnie seryjnych mapach niemieckich i austriackich). W sytuacji, gdy istnieją przesłanki o możliwości istnienia błędów, zalecają treść mapy każdorazowo potwierdzać za pomocą niezależnej dokumentacji
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