Inspired by his lectures on rhetoric and by game theory, this book provides a new interpretation of Adam Smith’s system of thought. It highlights its coherence through the identification of three reasoning routines and a meta-reasoning routine throughout his work on languages, rhetoric, moral sentiments, self-command, and the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. The identification of these reasoning routines allows the authors to uncover a hitherto poorly understood deep structure of Smith’s work and to explain its main characteristics. How these routines emerged in Smith’s early research on the principles of the human mind is also traced.
This book sheds new light on Adam Smith and his work, highlighting his sophisticated understanding of strategic interaction in all things rhetorical, moral, and economic. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in the history of ideas, the history of economic thought, game theory, Enlightenment studies, and rhetoric.
Author(s): Andreas Ortmann, Benoît Walraevens
Series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 264
City: Cham
Preface
References
Contents
List of Tables
1 Introduction
1 A Summary of the Book
2 Relation of Our Book to Other Literature
3 Conclusion
References
2 The Rhetorical Structure of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (and What Caused It)
1 Introduction
2 Why Smith Attacked the Mercantilist System
2.1 How the WN Turned into “a Very ‘American’ Book” (Fleischacker 2002, p. 903)
2.2 When Did the WN Turn into “a Very ‘American’ Book” (Fleischacker 2002, p. 903): A Conjectural History of the Writing and Publication of WN
2.3 The Mercantile System, Colonial Policy, and Public Debt
3 How Smith Attacked the Mercantilist System
3.1 Smith’s Early and Everlasting Interest for Rhetoric
3.2 The Targets of His “Very Violent Attack” (Corr. 208, p. 251)
3.3 The Theory Underlying the “Very Violent Attack” (Corr. 208, p. 251): Didactic Discourse and Rhetorical Discourse
3.4 How to Address the Audience: Smith’s Application of His Theoretical Insights in His Critique of the Mercantilist System
4 Conclusion
References
3 Self-Command in Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments: A Game-Theoretic Reinterpretation
1 Introduction
2 Passions, Passive Feelings, and Active Principles
3 Praise-Worthiness and Blame-Worthiness, and How to Extract Them
4 Modeling Self-Command
5 Real Evaluation
5.1 Proper Action
5.2 Improper Action
6 Routine Evaluation
6.1 Improper Action
6.2 Proper Action
7 Related Literature and Recent Experimental Results on Self-Regarding and Other-Regarding Behavior
7.1 The Question of Self-Interested Players, and the Evidence
7.2 An Alternative Model of Self-Command—Commitment Devices
7.3 Is Game Theory Applicable to “Egonomics”?
8 Conclusion
References
4 The Nature and Causes of Corporate Negligence, Sham Lectures, and Ecclesiastical Indolence: Adam Smith on Joint-Stock Companies, Teachers, and Preachers
1 Promotion of Manufacture, Teaching, and Preaching as Problem Isomorphs: A Road Map
2 Smith on Joint-Stock Companies
2.1 Raison d’Etre
2.2 Who is to Pay?
2.3 Incentive Problems
3 Smith on Educational Institutions
3.1 Raison d’Etre
3.2 Who is to Pay?
3.3 Incentive Problems
4 Smith on Ecclesiastical Institutions
4.1 Raison d’Etre
4.2 Incentive Problems
5 Discussion
6 Concluding Remarks
References
5 The Proper Role for Government, Game-Theoretically, for Smith
1 Introduction
2 Presentation of the Smith Game
3 The Smith Game and the Proper Role of Government in the WN
3.1 Provision of Non-Excludable Public Works: Street-Lights
3.2 Addressing Positive Externalities: Incentivizing Innovation
3.3 Addressing Negative Externalities: The Division of Labor Revisited
4 Further Examples of Social Dilemmas in Smith’s Works
4.1 When State Intervention is Required to Rein in Collusion that is Counterproductive
4.1.1 Collusion by “Captains of Industry”
4.1.2 Collusion by Professors
4.1.3 Collusion by Religious Sects
4.2 When State Intervention is Desirable in that it Facilitates Desirable Forms of Cooperation (and the Provision of Public Goods)
4.2.1 Ambassadors Defending the Interests of the Country’s Merchants
4.2.2 Court Fees
4.2.3 “Supporting the Dignity” of the Chief of State
4.3 Situations Where State Intervention is not Necessary Because the Stage Game Gets Repeated and Reputation gets a Chance to Work its Magic
4.3.1 The Trustworthiness of Merchants
4.3.2 “Efficiency Wages”
5 Conclusion
References
6 Adam Smith’s Economics and the Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres: The Language of Commerce
1 Introduction
2 Rhetoric and Exchange
3 The Morality of Exchange
4 Sympathy and Exchange
5 Conclusion
References
7 Adam Smith’s Reasoning Routines and the Deep Structure of His Oeuvre
1 Introduction
2 Adam Smith’s Reasoning Routines
2.1 Reasoning Routines: What They Are, What They Are Not
2.2 What Are Smith’s Reasoning Routines?
2.3 Reasoning Routines 1 and 3, Conflicting
3 A Conjectural History of Smith’s Reasoning Routines
4 Smith on Language and Rhetoric
5 Smith on Moral Philosophy
6 Smith, Moral Philosophy, Language Formation, and Rhetoric
7 Smith on Economics
8 Smith, Economics and Moral Philosophy
9 Smith on Economics, Language, and Rhetoric
10 Conclusion: Smith’s Reasoning Routines and the Principles of Human Nature
References
8 Conclusion
References
Name Index
Subject Index
