SMITH AT 300: ADAM SMITH ON RHETORIC AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Citation

Dow S (2023) SMITH AT 300: ADAM SMITH ON RHETORIC AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 45 (2), pp. 187-189. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1053837222000530

Abstract
First paragraph: “We need not be surprised … that the Cartesian philosophy …, though it does not perhaps contain a word of truth, … should nevertheless have been so universally received by all the Learned in Europe at that time. … [They] greedily receive[d] a work which we justly esteem one of the most entertaining Romances that has ever been wrote.” LRBL ii.134 I have selected this quotation for special attention because we can identify from it and the surrounding passages in the Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (Smith [1762–63] Reference Smith and Bryce1983; LRBL) key elements of Adam Smith’s philosophy of science. At the same time the quotation provides an example of Smith’s own arresting use of rhetoric.

Journal
Journal of the History of Economic Thought: Volume 45, Issue 2

People

Professor Sheila Dow

Emeritus Professor, Economics