18,369 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,
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'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,
Modeling of a solar receiver–reactor for sulfur-based thermochemical cycles for hydrogen generation
No full textSulfur based thermochemical cycles for hydrogen generation from water have one reaction step in common which is the decomposition of sulfuric acid as one of the most energy consuming steps. The present work deals with the development of a dynamic mathematical model of a solar reactor. for this key step. One of the core parts of the model is a part model of the reaction kinetics of the decomposition of sulfur trioxide, which is based on experiments investigating the kinetics of the used catalyst platinum coated on a ceramic solar absorber. Other part models describe e. g. the absorption of solar radiation, heat conduction in the absorber, convection between gas and the absorber walls and energy losses due to heat radiation.
A comprehensive validation of the reactor model is performed using measured data which is gained in experiments with a prototype reactor. The operating behavior of the real reactor is compared with the results of the numerical simulation with the model. The validation is in particular done by reproducing the influences of individual parameters on the chemical conversion and the reactor efficiency. The relative deviations between experimental data and simulation results are mostly within the range of measurement accuracy. In particular the good agreement of calculated values of the derived parameters SO3 conversion and reactor efficiency with those determined from the experiments qualify the model for optimization purposes
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
Adam smith and the Church of Scotland
No full textIn contrast to the French Enlightenment, the Scottish Enlightenment was neither anticlerical nor anti-religious. Intellectuals such as William Robertson, a historian, Hugh Blair, professor of rhetoric and belles letters, Adam Ferguson, professor of natural and later moral philosophy, John Home, playwright, Alexander Carlyle, author of numerous pamphlets were all ministers in the Church of Scotland and belonged to the Moderate party. Adam Smith shared the culture of intellectuals of this party. They had a love of learning, faith in reason and science, a preference for social order and stability and a commitment to religious tolerance and freedom of expression. Smith was one of the founding members of the Select Society and one of contributors of Edinburgh Review with William Robertson and others. In Wealth of Nations Smith had mentioned on the Church of Scotland. He praised ministers as ‘a learned, decent, independent and respectable sets of men’ and that they maintained ‘the uniformity of faith, the spirit of order, regularity, and austere morals in the great body of the people’.departmental bulletin pape
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