26,383 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,
Adam Smith on public expenditure and taxation
No full textThis paper presents Adam Smith’s view on taxation and public expenditure, by means of an almost literal reading of the Wealth of Nations famous passages on the "duties of the sovereign" and on the "maxims of taxation". Contrarily to the commonest usage of these passages, we will show that their core is the preoccupation with the public expenditure soaring and the defence of decentralisation. Furthermore and also contrarily to the existing interpretations we defend the non-existence of any contradiction between Smith’s income and price theory (and the incidence hypothesis), provided due attention is paid to the guiding role of the "maxims".Adam Smith, taxation, public expenditure
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,
The American Dream
No full textVoice actors: Adam Bobrow, Biz Duval, Mike English, Elana Mintz, Eric Saul, and Lisa WinstonThis week we bring you a special voice-acted episode with unfiltered words and arguments from the frontlines of the zoning wars. These are real excerpts from thousands of social media posts across several platforms including Nextdoor, Facebook, Twitter, and neighborhood listservs. The language is not always appropriate for young children. Guest produced by Mike English. Voice actors: Adam Bobrow, Biz Duval, Mike English, Elana Mintz, Eric Saul, and Lisa Winston.https://ihppod.libsyn.com/the-american-drea
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.
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
Recommended from our members
English 4650 Oral Histories
No full textAudio interview with Adam Briggle, a professor at the University of North Texas, regarding the City of Denton Fracking Referendum. Professor Briggle focuses on several topics including his initial engagement with the fracking referendum, being contacted by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the writing of the fracking ban, his reactions to the passing of the ban, and his arrest for protesting fracking
Adam Bede: Author, Narrator and Narrative
No full textReaders of novels seem to have a natural, almost instinctive, tendency to perceive the voices of the author and the omniscient narrator as being one and the same. This tendency is even stronger when the narrator is blatantly intrusive, frequently inserting his own opinions into the objective narrative material of the novel. And although there are certainly some novelists who truly intend their narrative voices to be perceived as their own, this is not the case with George Eliot in Adam Bede.
In analyzing the narrative voice in this particular novel, I was struck by the almost total agreement, on the part of the critics, that there is a distinction in Eliot\u27s work between the author and the narrator. In fact, Barbara Hardy goes one step further and makes a case for a third category, discriminating between characters who tell their stories, the narrator who does everything but tell his or her story, and the reticent author whose name never appeared on the cover or title-page.! For the purposes of this study, I will be using categories which are basically parallel to Hardy\u27s, though my third category differs somewhat: (1) the author - Mary Ann Evans, (2) the narrator - George Eliot, and (3) the narrative itself.
Any serious student of English literature knows that \u27George Eliot\u27 is the pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans, but the fact was hardly common knowledge to the readers of Adam Bede in 1859. The newly-published novel was an immediate success, selling thirteen thousand copies in the first year, and two thousand copies in the first month alone. A comment by Elizabeth Gaskell, the Victorian novelist and biographer of Charlotte Bronte, humorously reflects both the mystery of the author and the popularity of the novel: \u27I have had the greatest compliment paid me I ever had in my life. I have been suspected of having written Adam Bede\u27.2 While I do not wish to elaborate on the historical facts surrounding the mystery of the author hiding behind this pen name, it is important to try to understand why Mary Ann Evans chose to let George Eliot narrate Adam Bede, rather than speaking through her own authorial voice.
The use of pseudonyms has been fairly common practice throughout the history of English literature, particularly among female writers who felt the need to disguise themselves behind a man\u27s name. Just a decade earlier, the Bronte sisters had published novels and a book of poetry in the names of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell. Pseudonyms create a situation in which the relationship between the author and the work is reserved, and the fiction creates a reality, rather than reality creating fiction. Or as Michael Ginsburg explains it, \u27The author who chooses to use a pseudonym wants to upset the normal relationship according to which he is the father of his works; he wants to be himself an offspring of his own imagination
Adam Bede: Author, Narrator and Narrative
No full textReaders of novels seem to have a natural, almost instinctive, tendency to perceive the voices of the author and the omniscient narrator as being one and the same. This tendency is even stronger when the narrator is blatantly intrusive, frequently inserting his own opinions into the objective narrative material of the novel. And although there are certainly some novelists who truly intend their narrative voices to be perceived as their own, this is not the case with George Eliot in Adam Bede.
In analyzing the narrative voice in this particular novel, I was struck by the almost total agreement, on the part of the critics, that there is a distinction in Eliot\u27s work between the author and the narrator. In fact, Barbara Hardy goes one step further and makes a case for a third category, discriminating between characters who tell their stories, the narrator who does everything but tell his or her story, and the reticent author whose name never appeared on the cover or title-page.! For the purposes of this study, I will be using categories which are basically parallel to Hardy\u27s, though my third category differs somewhat: (1) the author - Mary Ann Evans, (2) the narrator - George Eliot, and (3) the narrative itself.
Any serious student of English literature knows that \u27George Eliot\u27 is the pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans, but the fact was hardly common knowledge to the readers of Adam Bede in 1859. The newly-published novel was an immediate success, selling thirteen thousand copies in the first year, and two thousand copies in the first month alone. A comment by Elizabeth Gaskell, the Victorian novelist and biographer of Charlotte Bronte, humorously reflects both the mystery of the author and the popularity of the novel: \u27I have had the greatest compliment paid me I ever had in my life. I have been suspected of having written Adam Bede\u27.2 While I do not wish to elaborate on the historical facts surrounding the mystery of the author hiding behind this pen name, it is important to try to understand why Mary Ann Evans chose to let George Eliot narrate Adam Bede, rather than speaking through her own authorial voice.
The use of pseudonyms has been fairly common practice throughout the history of English literature, particularly among female writers who felt the need to disguise themselves behind a man\u27s name. Just a decade earlier, the Bronte sisters had published novels and a book of poetry in the names of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell. Pseudonyms create a situation in which the relationship between the author and the work is reserved, and the fiction creates a reality, rather than reality creating fiction. Or as Michael Ginsburg explains it, \u27The author who chooses to use a pseudonym wants to upset the normal relationship according to which he is the father of his works; he wants to be himself an offspring of his own imagination
- …
