20,521 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.
Watching As The World Turns: Performance, Everyday Life, and the Self in the Novels of David Foster Wallace
No full textThis thesis examines manifestations of performance in the novels of David
Foster Wallace. It argues that as Wallace engages with the theme of
performance he concurrently addresses the related topics of everyday life and the self. Taking key theories of performance from the discipline of
performance studies and applying these to an analysis of Wallace’s novels, this thesis demonstrates how the views of everyday life and the self presented by Wallace are predicated on performance and uncertainty. It first compares Wallace’s view of the everyday with theories put forward by Henri Lefebvre and Guy Debord. Wallace’s view of the self is then outlined, primarily through close readings of how choice, boredom, rituals, and masks are presented in Wallace’s novels, alongside comparisons of his work with two further theorists of the everyday, Raoul Vaneigem and Erving Goffman. The thesis concludes by examining how Wallace presents audiences within his novels, suggesting that he often uses performance situations to articulate his thoughts on the relationship between the self and the other, before calling for further interdisciplinary research into Wallace’s writing
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,
Identity and uncertainty in Everett's multiverse
No full textIn the current debate on the concept of probability in the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics Saunders and Wallace argue for a notion of pre-measurement uncertainty whilst Greaves and Myrvold attempt to do without uncertainty altogether. Both these approaches are controversial and I suggest a middle way. I develop in detail an argument which Wallace has hinted at and Greaves has seen as beside the point in order to show that Vaidman’s concept of post-measurement uncertainty has more relevance to pre-measurement decision making than has hitherto been generally recognised. Further, Vaidman uncertainty leads naturally to another form of post-measurement uncertainty which clarifies the process of experimental confirmation of quantum mechanics in the Everett picture. I also stress the importance of Sider’s theory of transtemporal identity in making Everett’s multiverse intelligible
Bitara gen. nov. of Tropiduchidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) east of Wallace line
No full textStroiński, Adam, Szwedo, Jacek (2021): Bitara gen. nov. of Tropiduchidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) east of Wallace line. Zootaxa 5057 (1): 127-139, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5057.1.
Inescapable choice: Wallace Stevens's new Romanticism and English romantic poetry
No full textThe aim of this thesis is to investigate how Stevens creates a new Romanticism. It argues that Stevens demonstrates a double view of Romanticism as having positive and negative aspects and it relates discussion of this double view to the development of his poetry and theories of poetry. Stevens shares with the Romantics the belief that through the power of imagination the problem of dualism - especially the split between art and existential reality - can be solved. Prom Stevens's perspective, thinking about what should be respected and what should be corrected in Romanticism provides grounds for the creation of his own new Romanticism. In chapters one and two, by examining the conflict between imagination and reality in the works of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats, I explore the intertextual relations between Stevens and the Romantics from a perspective informed by the implications of Stevens's work and thought. In chapters three and four, focusing on Stevens's treatment of the relation between imagination and reality, I examine the nuanced differences between his work and that of the Romantics. Chapter five provides a prologue to 'Notes toward a Supreme Fiction', the culmination of Stevens's concern with imagination and reality. In the final chapter I examine how Stevens's new Romanticism, especially its emphasis on the imagination's activity, is concretised in 'Notes toward a Supreme Fiction'. I also explore how the later development of his sense of reality affects his poetic creativity. By examining the influence of the Romantics on Stevens and his response to them, the nature of his poetry can be more accurately understood. Throughout the thesis, I engage, as appropriate, with the work of many critics who have written on Stevens. It is my hope that my own approach gives a folly considered and detailed account of a topic often addressed more briefly by other commentators
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
FIGURES 36–39 in Bitara gen. nov. of Tropiduchidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) east of Wallace line
No full textFIGURES 36–39. Bitara augusta gen. et sp. nov., paratype, female, SEM micrographs. (36–39) terminalia, ventral view.Published as part of Stroiński, Adam & Szwedo, Jacek, 2021, Bitara gen. nov. of Tropiduchidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) east of Wallace line, pp. 127-139 in Zootaxa 5057 (1) on page 135, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5057.1.8, http://zenodo.org/record/558559
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