18,499 research outputs found
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
Get PDFAdam 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,
Miłosz’s Response to Brzozowski. On "Człowiek wśród skorpionów..." ["Man among Scorpions..."] and More
Get PDFThe aim of the author of the article is to investigate Miłosz’s relation to Stanisław Brzozowski. Proceeding from the interpretation of Miłosz’s Człowiek wśród skorpionów..., and diagnosing his personal motivation for turning to Brzozowski’s works in 1963, the author investigates the avenues of dialogue between Miłosz and Brzozowski, and their unsystematically expresses common points. The article, thus, presents various stages of influence of Brzozowski’s work and ideas on Miłosz: from the 1930s, when Miłosz was inspired by Brzozowski’s left-wing fanaticism, through the common opposition against anti-intellectualism and the Polish identity understood as a set of Romantic symbols and gestures, up to the fascination with Russian culture and Marxism. The deepest affinity of both authors seems to be the attitude of anthropocentrism, identified and exposed by Miłosz himself, and understood as hostility towards nature and belief in nature’s determinism, but also as a formula that gives coherence to the philosophical themes, found in both authors’ work, which are thought to be polarised and incompatible. In the conclusion, the author of the article states that positioning himself with reference to Brzozowski was, for Miłosz, a tool of self-creation, an attempt to control the reception and interpretation of his own work, and to place Miłosz in a separate and exceptional position, akin to the position of Brzozowski, the extraordinary and unrecognized philosopher and critic of Polish early modernism.Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne. Seria Literack
How Might Adam Smith Pay Professors Today?
Get PDFAdam 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.
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
Get PDFThe 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,
Stanisław Brzozowski: A Reader of Leopardi
No full textPolish philosopher Stanisław Brzozowski (1878–1911) spent the last five years of his life almost entirely in Italy (in Nervi and in Florence). The article traces back the chronology of his encounter with Italian culture, also explaining his idea of culture. In particular, his reading of Giacomo Leopardi is examined. Leopardi had been known in Poland since the 1880s, mainly through Edward Porębowicz’s translation of his poems, but Brzozowski in all probability first read him in Nervi in 1907. Subsequently, he mentioned Leopardi a few times in his own writings. These references are highly significant as they offer an original interpretation, which is not influenced by the ‘existentialist’ reading dominant at the beginning of the twentieth century. Instead, Brzozowski foregrounds other aspects of Leopardi’s philosophy, including his connection with Italian history and culture of the past (Brzozowski considered Leopardi’s demystifying urge interwoven with patriotic feelings to be a recommendable model for the moral renewal of Poland), the materialist and ‘pre-communist’ element, and the enigmatic juxtaposition of the figure of Leopardi and that of the Buddha. In the article, I compare these insights with other contemporaneous and prior readings of Leopardi (von Meysenbug, De Sanctis, Labriola, and Croce) in order to show that some of Brzozowski’s intuitions anticipated interpretations of Leopardi proposed by intellectuals in the following decades (from Rensi to Cioran). Brzozowski’s readings of Leopardi are retraced on the basis of the Polish philosopher’s correspondence, his published works, unpublished manuscripts and notes and by consulting the check-out log book of the Gabinetto di Lettura Vieusseux in Florence.Stanisław Brzozowski (1878‒1911) trascorse quasi interamente in Italia gli ultimi cinque anni della sua vita (a Nervi e soprattutto a Firenze). Nell’articolo si ricostruisce una cronologia del suo incontro con la cultura italiana, spiegando anche quale fosse l’idea di cultura secondo il filosofo polacco. In particolare viene esaminata la sua lettura di Giacomo Leopardi. Il poeta italiano era conosciuto in Polonia, soprattutto grazie alla traduzione di Edward Porębowicz, fin dagli anni Ottanta dell’ Ottocento, ma Brzozowski vi si accostò probabilmente per la prima volta a Nervi nel 1907. Successivamente menzionerà nei propri scritti Leopardi poche volte, ma in maniera molto significativa, fornendone un’interpretazione originale, che non è influenzata dalla lettura “esistenzialista” dominante a inizio Novecento, ma sposta in primo piano altri aspetti della filosofia del poeta: il suo legame con la storia e la cultura italiana del passato, nel quale la carica demistificatoria si fonda con l’incitamento a sentimenti patriottici (una posizione che per Brzozowski dovrebbe fungere da modello per un rinnovamento anche in Polonia); l’elemento materialista e “pre-comunista”; l’accostamento alla figura del Buddha. In questo articolo confrontiamo queste intuizioni con altre letture di Leopardi fatte in quegli anni e nel secolo precedente (von Meysenbug, De Sanctis, Labriola, Croce), per mostrare come alcune idee di Brzozowski anticipino letture di Leopardi fatte da altri intellettuali nei decenni successivi (da Giuseppe Rensi a Emil Cioran). La ricostruzione delle letture di Leopardi da parte di Brzozowski è effettuata sulla base della corrispondenza del filosofo polacco, dei suoi lavori pubblicati e dei manoscritti inediti, dei suoi appunti, nonché dalla consultazione del libro dei prestiti del Gabinetto di Lettura Vieusseux di Firenze
Recenzje
Get PDFZbigniew Wiktor, Mieczysław Rakowski, Rozwój i prognozy przyszłości Chin w zmieniającym się świecie, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2012, ss. 511 (Ewa Oziewicz)Meir Shahar, Klasztor Shaolin. Historia, religia i chińskie sztuki walki, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2011, ss. 310 (Krzysztof Brzozowski
Adam Smith and Roman Servitudes
Get PDFThis 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
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDFInterview in which Adam Gussow discusses hill country blues musi
- …
