3,076 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,
An initial assessment of volcanic meteo-tsunami hazard in the South China Sea: what we learned and how to move forward
No full textVolcanic meteo-tsunamis (VMTs), though rare, can pose significant threats to people, as exemplified by the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai (HT-HH) eruption in the SW Pacific. While various studies have explored such phenomena, none have investigated analogous scenarios in regions with potential occurrence of large undersea eruptions. We focus on areas along the South China Sea (SCS), which is a region among the most densely populated on Earth and historically prone to volcanic activity. We simulated VMTs from one intra-basin volcano (KW-23612) and three extra-basin volcanoes (Banua Wuhu, Kikai, and Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba), to assess which countries around the SCS could be more exposed to such phenomena. Our results generally indicate that the SCS can be considered a low-hazard region from VMTs, and that the worst-case scenarios are produced by eruptions/tsunamis from within the SCS basin itself, with offshore waves up to 10 and 20 cm offshore Hong Kong and Manila respectively. Countries bordering the shallower Sunda Shelf (Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam), instead, receive much smaller waves (<2 cm). Despite the limitations, this study sets the basis to quantitatively assess hazard from volcanic meteo-tsunamis at key locations in the SCS
Numerical modelling of gravel transportation by a tsunami with the extended XBeach-G
No full textEstimating coastal erosion by a tsunami is essential for land use planning, assessing hazards for current structures (e.g., coastal nuclear power plants), and for paleotsunami reconstruction. Such estimations are currently available only for sandy beaches, using sand sediment transport models, which are not applicable to gravel beaches, which are the most common beach type in high-latitude settings. This study extended the one-dimensional cross-shore XBeach-G model to account for two-dimensional gravel transport by a tsunami. First, this study confirmed that the extended XBeach-G model can simulate a time series of waveforms of solitary waves during laboratory experiments. The proposed model was then applied to gravel transport by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami at Koyadori, Japan, and found that the simulation results were consistent with observations of gravel deposits in previous studies. It was revealed that infiltration and exfiltration have an impact on morphological change caused by a tsunami on gravel coasts. In the simulation, inundation depth over land by the tsunami increased due to groundwater exfiltration, which increased the onshore deposition volume of gravel tsunami deposits. The groundwater flow calculation has not been incorporated so far for tsunami modelling, but this is important for modelling tsunami inundation at gravel beaches and gravel sediment transport by a tsunami. However, choosing appropriate values for the sediment friction factor and multiplier in the equation for gravel transport is more critical to reproducing the deposition of gravel sediments by a tsunami because these parameters are more sensitive than the parameter of groundwater flow. Although the presented model has been developed for tsunami simulation on any gravel beach, further testing and validation are recommended
sj-docx-1-hol-10.1177_09596836221131696 – Supplemental material for A 5000-year record of relative sea-level change in New Jersey, USA
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-hol-10.1177_09596836221131696 for A 5000-year record of relative sea-level change in New Jersey, USA by Jennifer S Walker, Tanghua Li, Timothy A Shaw, Niamh Cahill, Donald C Barber, Matthew J Brain, Robert E Kopp, Adam D Switzer and Benjamin P Horton in The Holocene</p
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
Importance of tides and winds in influencing the nonstationary behaviour of coastal currents in offshore Singapore
No full textCoastal currents significantly impact port activities, coastal landform morphodynamics, and ecosystem functioning. It is therefore necessary to understand the physical characteristics and natural variability of these currents within coastal settings. Traditional methods, such as harmonic analysis, assume stationarity of tide-driven currents and may thus not be applicable to systems modulated by variable nontidal inputs and processes. Here we deployed eight tilt current meters in shallow (< 5 m) coral reef environments in southern Singapore. Tilt current meters were positioned around the reefs at the main compass bearings to analyse the spatiotemporal variability of coastal currents in the frequency domain for 1 year (March 2018 to March 2019). Tidal motions were the primary mechanism of current flow on reefs and account for between 14 % and 45 % of total variance across all sites, with diurnal currents having either a similar or greater proportion of energy compared to semidiurnal currents. The relationship between currents and wind stress was then investigated across various frequencies. There is high correlation at low frequencies during the northeast monsoon, when the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) is more active, thus generating currents that propagate either in phase or ahead of the MJO. At diurnal frequencies, the interaction between P1 and K1 results in a semi-annual cycle where currents are stronger during the monsoon seasons. This interaction could help to explain the seasonal variation in correlation as well as the K1 amplitude, the latter of which could be further enhanced by the diurnal wind stress. The phase relationship between currents and wind stress is highly complex due to the variable bathymetry and could only be partially accounted for by the orientation of the coastlines relative to that of the wind. Given the importance of wind, we thus require longer time-series datasets to examine the role of atmospheric phenomena at greater timescales to improve our understanding of the variability of coastal currents.</p
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,
Holocene sea levels in Southeast Asia, Maldives, India and Sri Lanka: The SEAMIS database
No full textWe assembled a database of Holocene relative sea-level index points (n = 213) and marine (n = 211) and terrestrial (n = 122) limiting points for the broader South and Southeast Asian region including the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka. The standardized review of published age-elevation information from corals, deltaic, estuarine and mangrove deposits, beachrocks and tidal notches, yielded a new suite of relative sea-level index and limiting points produced according to a standardized protocol. Expected spatial variability in Holocene relative sea-level change due to glacial isostatic adjustment was accounted for, by first subdividing the study area into ten geographic sub-regions from the Central Indian Ocean to the Western Tropical Pacific, and second by comparing sub-regional relative sea-level data to model predictions of glacial isostatic adjustment. Results show that some of the regionally constrained relative sea-level data are characterized by significant inconsistencies that cannot be explained by glacial isostatic adjustment. Such inconsistencies of standardized relative sea-level data become particularly obvious in areas around the Red River Delta in Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand, the northwest coast of Malaysia and the Spermonde Archipelago in Indonesia. Based on a critical evaluation of the reviewed relative sea-level indicators, we discuss possible sources of local divergence and identify regions where data are currently insufficient to constrain glacial isostatic adjustment predictions. The remaining quality-controlled and consistent relative sea-level data show that glacial isostatic adjustment and syn-/post-formational influences such as tectonic uplift, subsidence and compaction were the dominant local drivers of Holocene relative sea-level change. Collectively, the results of this review suggest that Holocene sea levels in South and Southeast Asia and surrounding regions have been controlled by a variety of global and local drivers and imply that additional index points from the Java Sea in Indonesia would be valuable to better assess the spatial variability, and to calibrate geophysical models of glacial isostatic adjustment
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.
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