3,093 research outputs found
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
Adam 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,
Theology in suspense : how the detective fiction of P.D. James provokes theological thought
Electronic redacted version excludes material for which permission has not been granted by the rights holderThe following dissertation argues that the detective fiction of P.D. James
provokes her readers to think theologically. I present evidence from the body of
James’s work, including her detective fiction that features the Detective Adam
Dalgliesh, as well as her other novels, autobiography, and non-fiction work. I also
present a brief history of detective fiction. This history provides the reader with a
better understanding of how P.D James is influenced by the detective genre as well as
how she stands apart from the genre’s traditions.
This dissertation relies on an interview that I conducted with P.D. James in
November, 2008. During the interview, I asked James how Christianity has
influenced her detective fiction and her responses greatly contribute to this
dissertation. However, James’s novels should be interpreted and explored in the
manner that they are received by the reader. How the reader receives and responds to
the novels, not only how James writes the novels, is what causes her stories to
provoke theological thinking.
By examining Christian symbolism that is present in setting, character, the
Detective Adam Dalgliesh, and plot, this dissertation seeks to assert that James
contributes to a theological conversation through her popular detective fiction
Communicating climate change: James McClintock and Adam Vines
Join climate change expert James McClintock and celebrated author Adam Vines to a presentation about how to communicate climate change—how to talk about it, integrate it into your artistic practice, how to write grants to get people to fund research, and more. This presentation is the culmination of work the two have been doing with students and faculty this semester, which included videos, presentations, and readings in many FIT courses. McClintock and Vines were brought here as part of a Sustainability Grant awarded to Amy Lemmon, professor, English and Communication Studies, and Arthur Kopelman, Distinguished Service Professor, Science and Math, for their proposal “Communicating Climate Change: Collaboration in the Arts and Sciences.
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
The 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,
The political economy of trade and growth: an analytical interpretation of sir James Steuart's inquiry
Sir James Steuart (1713-80) has been unduly neglected by the majority of historians of economic thought. This study aims at casting a new light upon his original thought to provide a basis for the revaluation of his contribution to the development of economic discipline. The present interpretation of his Inquiry (1767) reveals that his political economy contains not only fresh new ideas and path-breaking thinking for his time but also most major ingredients of modem economics. Firmly based on the recognition of the interdependence of economic sectors and social classes, he clearly grasped the circular system of production, distribution and consumption in the exchange economy. He discerned between the 'profit upon alienation' and the 'real value' of commodities in their current price' determined in the markets. He emphasized the 'balance of work and demand', secured by the 'double competition' among the sellers and buyers of commodities, for the efficient allocation of economic resources. On these foundations, Steuart established his theory of output, employment and population in terms of the notion of 'effectual demand'. His economic analysis culminates in his discussions of economic growth and foreign trade. He linked the limitations of the former to the benefits of the latter. Meanwhile, refuting his predecessors' quantity theory, Steuart presented what might be called the production-consumption theory of money, according to which money is not neutral to the determination of the level of output in an exchange economy. His theory of international money also takes on modernity, as it adopts an absorption approach to the balance of payments. Steuart's monetary analysis comes complete with his argument for government's active finance. The state interventionism underlying the whole of Steuart's political economy is seen as its logical conclusion, rather than a mere assumption. Thus, it is suggested that the ultimate message of his Inquiry is neither laissez faire nor centa-al planning
THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF ADAM SMITH'S WORK
The 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,
A call for continuity: the theological contribution of James Orr
James Orr (1844-1913) was a Scottish theologian, apologist
and polemicist. He was the leading United Presbyterian theologian
at the time of the United Free Church of Scotland union of 1900, and
beyond his own church and nation he came to exercise a significant
influence in North America. This study is an examination of Orris
theological contribution, what he believed and how he expressed it,
in its historical setting Particular attention is paid to the
convictions which undergirded and gave impetus to his activities.
The study reveals that while Orr was far from unaffected by
the intellectual movements of the late-Victorian period, his contribution
may best be described as a call for continuity with the central tenets
of evangelical orthodoxy. He was one of the earliest and principal
British critics of the Ritschlian theology, and a strong opponent
of rationalistic biblical criticism. He emphatically rejected all
evolutionary interpretations of man's moral history, and held firmly
to orthodox Christological formulations in the face of alternative
assessments of the historical Jesus.
While factors of temperament affected the tenor of his work,
his contribution was most decisively shaped by the convictions that
evangelical orthodoxy is ultimately self-authenticating, that truth
comprises a unity or interconnected whole, that genuine Christian
belief implies a two-story supernaturalist cosmology, and that the
rationalism of the times was a temporary malaise.
A general lack of support for his views within the scholarly
community, combined with his own deep-seated populist instincts and
common sense convictions, led Orr in later years to direct his
appeals primarily toward the Christian public. The conclusion reached
is that Orr deserves to be recognized, not so much as a brilliant or
particularly original thinker, but as an able and exceptionally
vigorous participant in a period of dramatic theological challenge
and change
The Black Londoner Experience: Exploring Black Life through Records of the Court, 1720-1840
Black Londoners have lived in the city for centuries. This collection brings 10 Black London lives together in an accessible volume to share the diversity of their experiences in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with new readers.
Drawing on the records of the Old Bailey criminal courthouse, these ten carefully selected trials have been chosen to show some of the breadth of Black experience in London during the age of enslavement (c. 1720-1840). The volume includes Black victims, witnesses, and defendants; men, women, and children; sailors, servants, and entertainers; locals, immigrants, and visitors. Some were treated well by the justice system, and others were met with cruelty. Each had their own experience.
While the volume contains details of crime and conflict, crime is not the sole focus. The sources also give us glimpses into the daily lives of these Black individuals as they interacted with the city and its inhabitants. We learn where these Black people spent their time, with whom, doing what, and sometimes even what they had in their pockets.
Each of the ten cases has been accessibly formatted for classroom use or personal study, and features illustrations by Manon Wright. The sources are arranged like plays, making them easy to read aloud as a means of better understanding the theatre of the courtroom and the power dynamics at play. Dr Crymble offers notes and reflections on tricky or foreign concepts in each case, as well as issues that he has noted through experience that students often misinterpret by making modern assumptions about the past.
John Humphreys, 1727
John Cross, 1749
Elizabeth Gift, 1755
Esther Allingham, 1782
John Thomas, 1786
James Wallis, 1801
Dolby Jackson, 1808
Thomas Johnson, 1818
'The Busker' 1831
Louis James Grant, 1840
For serious scholars of Black experience in 18th/19th century London criminal records, the author also recommends the following works:
Tim Hitchcock, Robert Shoemaker, Clive Emsley, Sharon Howard, Jamie McLaughlin, et al, the Old Bailey Proceedings Online, 1674-1913 (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8, 2018.
Adam Crymble and Emma Azid, 'Black Lives, British Justice: Black People in London Criminal Justice Records, 1720-1841' Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation vol. 2, no 2. (2021): 1-11.
Kathleen Chater. Untold Histories: Black People in England and Wales during the Period of the British Slave Trade, c. 1660-1807 (Manchester, 2011).
Norma Myers, Reconstructing the Black Past (Frank Cass, 1996).
Marika Sherwood. ‘Blacks in the Gordon Riots’, History Today, vol. 47 (1997), 24-28
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Retraction: Site‐specific recombination of nitrogen‐fixation genes in cyanobacteria by XisF–XisH–XisI complex: Structures and models, William C. Hwang, James W. Golden, Jaime Pascual, Dong Xu, Anton Cheltsov, Adam Godzik
The above article from the Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, published online on 1 September 2014 in Wiley Online Library as Accepted Article (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/prot.24679/full), has been retracted by agreement between William C. Hwang, James W. Golden, Jaime Pascual, Dong Xu, Anton Cheltsov, Adam Godzik, the Editor‐in‐Chief, Bertrand E. Garcia‐Moreno, and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The retraction has been agreed because submission was made without agreement from co‐author Adam Godzik
Mary Watson-Wentworth to James Edward Smith
Thanks in advance for plants Smith sent from [Adam] Afzelius [in Sierra Leone], pleased to be "the first & best supply'd". Invites Smith and [Richard] Salisbury for brief visit on Sunday before they leave for Norwich, [Norfolk]
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