2,650 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'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,
Dissolving the Chimera of the ‘Adam Smith Problem’
No full textIn The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith set out his influential theory that societies achieve prosperity by securing the freedom of individuals to pursue their own end by the means they choose within a framework of rules of justice. In his earlier work The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith developed his thesis about the origins of our moral sentiments and the emergence of rules of justice. The socalled ‘Adam Smith Problem’ concerns the perceived inconsistency between Smith’s defence of selfinterest in the Wealth of Nations and his emphasis of sympathy as the origin of moral sentiments in the earlier work. The existence of the ‘Adam Smith Problem’ has been contested by many writers. The present author provides a number of new arguments to demonstrate the illusory nature of the problem by revisiting the key elements Smith’s moral theory. The author argues that the problem dissolves when the role of justice in providing the conditions of free trade is understood. Smith’s tirade against wealth worship is explained as part of his defence of justice and not a condemnation of wealth accumulation. According to this reading, the Theory of Moral Sentiments is a powerful statement of the moral basis of capitalism.
Adam Zagajevski: nel segno dell\u27esilio
No full textQuesto contributo si concentra sulla produzione saggistica di Adam Zagajewski, uno fra i maggiori poeti polacchi contemporanei. Per l\u27autore, il saggio rappresenta una forma libera e aperta, ove è possibile contaminare i generi. A seguito dell\u27esilio della propria comunità e dell\u27allontanamento forzato della sua famiglia da Leopoli, l\u27immagine della città natale diventa per Zagajewski dimora della memoria, individuale e collettiva. Analogamente a quel che avviene nella poesia, anche i saggi di Zagajewski esprimono la condizione erratica dell\u27autore.Questo contributo si concentra sulla produzione saggistica di Adam Zagajewski, uno fra i maggiori poeti polacchi contemporanei. Per l\u27autore, il saggio rappresenta una forma libera e aperta, ove è possibile contaminare i generi. A seguito dell\u27esilio della propria comunità e dell\u27allontanamento forzato della sua famiglia da Leopoli, l\u27immagine della città natale diventa per Zagajewski dimora della memoria, individuale e collettiva. Analogamente a quel che avviene nella poesia, anche i saggi di Zagajewski esprimono la condizione erratica dell\u27autore.Questo contributo si concentra sulla produzione saggistica di Adam Zagajewski, uno fra i maggiori poeti polacchi contemporanei. Per l\u27autore, il saggio rappresenta una forma libera e aperta, ove è possibile contaminare i generi. A seguito dell\u27esilio della propria comunità e dell\u27allontanamento forzato della sua famiglia da Leopoli, l\u27immagine della città natale diventa per Zagajewski dimora della memoria, individuale e collettiva. Analogamente a quel che avviene nella poesia, anche i saggi di Zagajewski esprimono la condizione erratica dell\u27autore.Questo contributo si concentra sulla produzione saggistica di Adam Zagajewski, uno fra i maggiori poeti polacchi contemporanei. Per l\u27autore, il saggio rappresenta una forma libera e aperta, ove è possibile contaminare i generi. A seguito dell\u27esilio della propria comunità e dell\u27allontanamento forzato della sua famiglia da Leopoli, l\u27immagine della città natale diventa per Zagajewski dimora della memoria, individuale e collettiva. Analogamente a quel che avviene nella poesia, anche i saggi di Zagajewski esprimono la condizione erratica dell\u27autore.
This paper focuses on three essays by Adam Zagajewski,who is considered one of the greatest contemporary polish poets. The author addresses the essay as a free and open form, in which genres can be mixed. After the exile of his community and the displacement of his family from Lvov, for Zagajewski the image of his hometown becomes a memory\u27s place. Like Poetry, Zagajewski\u27s essays often express the erratic condition of the author.
PAROLE CHIAVE
Adam Zagajewski; Saggio; Poesia; Letteratura polacca; Esilio; Memoria collettiva; Cultura nazionale; Post-memory.
 
Rosyjski konserwatyzm jako prawo do usprawiedliwienia wojny z perspektywy fundamentów moralnych J. Haidta i syndromu myślenia grupowego I. L. Janisa
No full textIn this article, the author attempts to describe something called Russian conservatism. He then considers why Russian society may succumb to such ideas, what belief in Kremlin propaganda may lead to, and whether there are grounds to believe that we already have evidence that Russian society is heading in a specific direction. The author refers here to two researchers and their understanding of group processes. The first is Jonathan Haidt, and the second is Irving L. Janis. I refer to J. Haidt because of his research on moral behavior. In his 2012 book (Haidt, 2014) – The Righteous Mind – he asks in the subtitle: Why are good people divided by religion and politics? It can be paraphrased: why are good people able to murder other good people because of religion and politics? Here, we will refer to the Kremlin’s ideology, which is conservatism in Russia, and ask ourselves: is there any counterweight to it? Then we will consider whether Russian society has really become so polarized that there is no balance between people with a conservative and, for example, liberal approach, in order to refer to I. L. Janis’s research (Janis, 1982) on group behavior, including extensive research devoted to the groupthink syndrome, to explore whether it can be assumed that this type of thinking has already occurred in Russia.W artykule autor podejmuje próbę zreferowania czegoś, co nazywamy rosyjskim konserwatyzmem. Następnie zastanawia się, dlaczego społeczeństwo rosyjskie może ulegać takim ideom, do czego wiara w propagandę Kremla może prowadzić i czy są przesłanki do tego, aby sądzić, że mamy już dowody na to, że społeczeństwo rosyjskie zmierza w jakimś konkretnym kierunku.Autor odwołuje się tutaj do dwóch badaczy i ich rozumienia procesów grupowych. Pierwszym będzie Jonathan Haidt, a drugim Irving L. Janis.Do J. Haidta odnoszę się ze względu na badania dotyczące zachowań moralnych. W swej książce (Haidt, 2014) z 2012 roku – Prawy umysł – zadaje on w podtytule pytanie: Dlaczego dobrych ludzi dzieli religia i polityka? Można je sparafrazować: dlaczego dobrzy ludzie przez religię i politykę są w stanie mordować innych dobrych ludzi? Odwołamy się tutaj do ideologii Kremla, jaką jest konserwatyzm w Rosji, i zadamy sobie pytanie: czy istnieje dla niego jakaś przeciwwaga?Następnie zastanowimy się, czy rzeczywiście społeczeństwo rosyjskie tak się spolaryzowało, że nie ma w nim równowagi między osobami o konserwatywnym a np. liberalnym podejściu, aby odwołując się do badań I. L. Janisa (Janis, 1982) dotyczących zachowań grupowych, w tym szerokich badań poświęconych syndromowi myślenia grupowego, zgłębić, czy można uznać, że w Rosji doszło już do tego rodzaju myślenia
Tagging of Biomedical Articles on CiteULike: A Comparison of User, Author and Professional Indexing
No full textThis paper examines the context of online indexing from the viewpoint of three different groups: users, authors, and professional indexers. User tags, author keywords and descriptors were collected from academic journal articles, which were both indexed in Pubmed and tagged on CiteULike, and analysed. Descriptive statistics, informetric measures, and thesaural term comparison shows that there are important differences in the use of keywords between the three groups in addition to similarities which can be used to enhance support for search and browse. While tags and author keywords were found that matched descriptors exactly, other terms which did not match but provided important expansion to the indexing lexicon were found. These additional terms could be used to enhance support for searching and browsing in article databases as well as to provide invaluable data for entry vocabulary and emergent terminology for regular updates to indexing systems. Additionally, the study suggests that tags support organisation by association to task, projects and subject while making important connections to traditional systems which classify into subject categories
Hacia la construcción semiótica del mundo. Las consideraciones de Adam Smith sobre el lenguaje
No full textThis article explores the aportation of Adam Smith’s Considerations Concerning the First Formation of Languages to the rest of his work. It starts analyzing its internal structure in the light of its documented sources, of which it follows a linguistic model that is more constructive than referential. From the initial approach that language, first of all, communicates needs, the author connects this germ of the process of socialization with Smith’s published works, explaining them as a semiotic development of the fundamental idea that the human being has not a definite Nature, but an open history in which he must make to himself.El presente artículo explora la aportación de Considerations Concerning the First Formation of Languages, de Adam Smith, al resto de su obra. Comienza analizando su estructura interna a la luz de sus fuentes documentadas, de la que se sigue un modelo lingüístico más constructivo que referencial. A partir del planteamiento inicial de que el lenguaje, ante todo, comunica necesidades, el autor conecta este germen del proceso de socialización con las obras publicadas de Smith, explicándolas como un desarrollo semiótico de la idea fundamental de que el ser humano no tiene una naturaleza definida, sino una historia abierta en la que tiene que hacerse a sí mismo
Adam Schaff’s Christian Socialism
No full textВ статье рассматривается экуменический социализм Адама Шаффа, который в тексте выступает как христианский социализм. Шафф утвер-ждает, что результатом т.н. технологической революции, то есть авто-матизации и роботизации, станет падение капитализма и строительство социалистического общества. Его социализм представляет собой синтез марксистской аксиологии и евангелического учения. Автор статьи намерен рассмотреть ограничения Шахховского анализа, указывая на вторичный статус наемного труда относительно капитала, тем самым на отсут-ствие обязательной зависимости между «исчезновение наемного труда» и падением капитализма. Тезис автора состоит в том, что происходящие изменения могут быть предпосылкой для дальнейшей демократизации общества, как и тоталитаризма.The subject of consideration is the proposal of ecumenical socialism by Adam Schaff, which in the article is defined as Christian socialism. Schaff maintains that the consequence of the so-called technological revolution, that is automation and robotics, will be disappearance of hired labour, and consequently the collapse of capitalism and the formation of a socialist society. He understands this socialism as a synthesis of Marx’s axiology and evangelical thinking. The author of the article attempts to identify the limitations of the analysis formulated by Schaff. He points out the secondary status of hired labor to capital, and thus no necessary correlation between “disappearance of hired labor” and the collapse of capitalism. He formulates the thesis that the changes can be equally well a premise for further democratization of society and totalitarianism
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