The pragmatic enlightenment : recovering the liberalism of Hume, Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire /
This is a study of the political theory of the Enlightenment, focusing on four leading eighteenth-century thinkers: David Hume, Adam Smith, Montesquieu and Voltaire. Dennis C. Rasmussen calls attention to the particular strand of the Enlightenment these thinkers represent, which he terms the 'p...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2013
1309 |
| Subjects: | |
| Local Note: | ProQuest Ebook Central |
Table of Contents:
- Cover; The Pragmatic Enlightenment; Title; Copyright; Contents; A Note on the Citations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Hegemonic Universalism?; 1 Morality in Context; The Importance of Context in Hume's Empirical Sentimentalism; Smith, the Impartial Spectator, and the Influence of "Custom and Fashion"; Montesquieu and the Indeterminate Nature of Natural Law; Culture and Circumstance in Voltaire's Treatise on Metaphysics; Conclusion; 2 Pragmatic Liberalism; The Moderate Spirit of Montesquieu's Liberalism; Voltaire's Practical, Pragmatic Politics.
- Convention and Context in Hume's Political ThoughtSmith's Historical Case for Commercial Liberalism; Conclusion; Blind Faith in Reason?; 3 The Age of the Limits of Reason; Daring Not to Know; The Uses and Limits of Natural Science; Moderating Religion; Conclusion; 4 The Perils of Political Rationalism; The Dull Rasp of Politics; Progress without Teleology; Conclusion; Atomistic Individualism?; 5 The Social and Encumbered Self; "The Minds of Men Are Mirrors to One Another"; "How Selfish Soever Man May Be Supposed ... "; "Society Is as Old as the World."
- "That Flexible Being Who Adapts Himself in Society to the Thoughts and Impressions of Others"Conclusion; 6 Negative Liberty for a Positive Community; Montesquieu, Doux Commerce, and the Risks of Republican Virtue; Voltaire and the Value of the Royal Exchange; Hume and the "Indissoluble Chain" of Commercial Society; Smith on Commerce and Community; Conclusion; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
