18,640 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,
Second-order Teukolsky formalism in Kerr spacetime: formulation and nonlinear source
No full textTo fully exploit the capabilities of next-generation gravitational wave detectors, we need to significantly improve the accuracy of our models of gravitational-wave-emitting systems. This paper focuses on one way of doing so: by taking black hole perturbation theory to second perturbative order. Such calculations are critical for the development of nonlinear ringdown models and of gravitational self-force models of extreme-mass-ratio inspirals. In the most astrophysically realistic case of a Kerr background, a second-order Teukolsky equation presents the most viable avenue for calculating second-order perturbations. Motivated by this, we analyze two second-order Teukolsky formalisms and advocate for the one that is well-behaved for gravitational self-force calculations and which meshes naturally with recent metric reconstruction methods due to Green, Hollands, and Zimmerman [CQG 37, 075001 (2020)] and others. Our main result is an expression for the nonlinear source term in the second-order field equation; we make this available, along with other useful tools, in an accompanying Mathematica notebook. Using our expression for the source, we also show that infrared divergences at second order can be evaded by adopting a Bondi-Sachs gauge.</p
Second-order perturbations of the Schwarzschild spacetime: practical, covariant, and gauge-invariant formalism
No full textPerturbationEquations
No full textThe PerturbationEquations Mathematica package provides a set of tools for working with the spherical-harmonic decompositions of the first- and second-order Einstein equations and Teukolsky equations in Schwarzschild spacetime. See the package website for further details and installation instructions.</span
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
Second-order gravitational self-force in Kerr spacetime
No full textGravitational-wave astronomy has been a burgeoning field of research since the first detection of a merging black hole binary in 2015. As gravitational-wave detector sensitivity improves, our models must keep pace. The planned space-based detector LISA will be sensitive to new gravitational wave sources, such as extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs). Precise extraction of EMRI parameters from LISA data will require highly accurate waveform templates. These templates need models which include, among other things, the dissipative piece of the second-order self-force in Kerr. This thesis formulates methods to help calculate the second-order self-force in Kerr. In the first part of the thesis, I develop a general framework for second-order calculations by deriving a new form of the second-order Teukolsky equation. I show that the source of this equation is well defined (in a highly regular gauge) for second-order self-force calculations. Additionally, I present methods for calculating second-order gauge-invariants. I produce an algebraic method for calculating a gauge-invariant. I also provide a formalism for calculating a gauge-invariant associated with the Bondi--Sachs gauge (with a fixed BMS frame). The asymptotically flat property of the Bondi--Sachs gauge is shown to circumvent infrared divergences that arise in generic second-order calculations. Next, I calculate a general formula for the second-order source, decomposed into spherical harmonics, in Schwarzschild. Using this formula, I help to implement a framework for quasi-circular inspirals in Schwarzschild. I transform the source to a near-Bondi--Sachs gauge, increasing the asymptotic falloff by two orders in r. My collaborator Ben Leather integrates the resulting source. From the resulting quantity, we will extract fluxes and evolve inspirals to first post-adiabatic accuracy. In the final part, I take a step toward implementation in Kerr by developing a new method of constructing a more regular first-order perturbation. To help formulate this method, I implement Green--Hollands--Zimmerman metric construction for a stationary point-mass in flat spacetime
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,
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