18,391 research outputs found
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
No full textAdam 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,
Quantum Event Learning and Gentle Random Measurements
No full textWe prove the expected disturbance caused to a quantum system by a sequence of randomly ordered two-outcome projective measurements is upper bounded by the square root of the probability that at least one measurement in the sequence accepts. We call this bound the Gentle Random Measurement Lemma.
We then extend the techniques used to prove this lemma to develop protocols for problems in which we are given sample access to an unknown state ρ and asked to estimate properties of the accepting probabilities Tr[M_i ρ] of a set of measurements {M₁, M₂, … , M_m}. We call these types of problems Quantum Event Learning Problems. In particular, we show randomly ordering projective measurements solves the Quantum OR problem, answering an open question of Aaronson. We also give a Quantum OR protocol which works on non-projective measurements and which outperforms both the random measurement protocol analyzed in this paper and the protocol of Harrow, Lin, and Montanaro. However, this protocol requires a more complicated type of measurement, which we call a Blended Measurement. Given additional guarantees on the set of measurements {M₁, …, M_m}, we show the random and blended measurement Quantum OR protocols developed in this paper can also be used to find a measurement M_i such that Tr[M_i ρ] is large. We call the problem of finding such a measurement Quantum Event Finding. We also show Blended Measurements give a sample-efficient protocol for Quantum Mean Estimation: a problem in which the goal is to estimate the average accepting probability of a set of measurements on an unknown state.
Finally we consider the Threshold Search Problem described by O'Donnell and Bădescu where, given given a set of measurements {M₁, …, M_m} along with sample access to an unknown state ρ satisfying Tr[M_i ρ] ≥ 1/2 for some M_i, the goal is to find a measurement M_j such that Tr[M_j ρ] ≥ 1/2 - ε. By building on our Quantum Event Finding result we show that randomly ordered (or blended) measurements can be used to solve this problem using O(log²(m) / ε²) copies of ρ. This matches the performance of the algorithm given by O'Donnell and Bădescu, but does not require injected noise in the measurements. Consequently, we obtain an algorithm for Shadow Tomography which matches the current best known sample complexity (i.e. requires Õ(log²(m)log(d)/ε⁴) samples). This algorithm does not require injected noise in the quantum measurements, but does require measurements to be made in a random order, and so is no longer online
How Might Adam Smith Pay Professors Today?
No full textAdam 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.
Tracking the Shift to 'Postgenomics'
No full textCurrent knowledge about the variety and complexity of the processes that allow regulated gene expression in living organisms calls for a new understanding of genes. A ‘postgenomic’ understanding of genes as entities constituted during genome expression is outlined and illustrated with specific examples that formed part of a survey research instrument developed by two of the authors for an ongoing empirical study of conceptual change in contemporary biology
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
No full textThe 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,
Adam Smith and Roman Servitudes
No full textThis 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
No full textThe 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
No full textInterview in which Adam Gussow discusses hill country blues musi
Książę Adam Jerzy Czartoryski i jego stronnicy w świetle historiografii ukraińskiej
No full textIn 1937, the Warsaw historian Marceli Handelsman published a work entitled Ukraińska polityka
ks. Adama Czartoryskiego przed wojną krymską [Ukrainian politics of Prince Adam Czartoryski
before the Crimean War]. So far, this book has been used by historians as the primary source of
information on the Ukrainian issue in the views of the Hotel Lambert’s leader. The author of this
text has decided to collect Ukrainian works referring to the topic inaugurated by Handelsman. Unfortunately, no larger study has been prepared on the Ukrainian side. However, a number of articles
and encyclopaedic notes showing Prince Adam and his Eastern policy (especially during his stay
at the court of Tsar Alexander I Romanov) has been published. Ukrainian authors paid much more
attention to Czartoryski’s associates, who tried to put his ideas into practice. Ukrainian researchers
wrote mainly about Michał Czaykowski (Sadyk Pasha) organizing the Cossack troops in the Ottoman Empire, about Hipolit Terlecki striving for the union of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic
Churches, and finally about the ethnographer and writer Franciszek Duchiński clearly separating
Ukraine from Russia in his writings
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