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The “Science” of Political Economy – A Victory for Common Sense?

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Priebe, M. The “Science” of Political Economy – A Victory for Common Sense?. . A Comparative Reading of Adam Smith and Thomas Reid. Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, 99999(), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380534
Priebe, Maximilian "The “Science” of Political Economy – A Victory for Common Sense?. A Comparative Reading of Adam Smith and Thomas Reid. " Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch 99999., 2024, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380534
Priebe, Maximilian (2024): The “Science” of Political Economy – A Victory for Common Sense?, in: Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, vol. 99999, iss. , 1-20, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380534
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The “Science” of Political Economy – A Victory for Common Sense?

A Comparative Reading of Adam Smith and Thomas Reid

Priebe, Maximilian

Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. (2024), Online First : pp. 1–20

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Duncker & Humblot
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.2024.380534
Language
Multiple languages
Pages
20
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Maximilian Priebe, Institute of Sociology, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena Fürstengraben 1 07743 Jena, Germany

References

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Abstract

This work offers the first comprehensive comparison between the philosophy of Adam Smith and that of his successor, Thomas Reid. It looks at Reid’s and Smith’s remarkably similar accounts of human perception and judgement, and at their different moral and economic theories. In this way, this paper offers not only a new perspective on Reid’s critique of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, but also new insights into the intellectual roots of the genuinely Scottish debates about sense perception and the task of scientific philosophy. “Reiding” Smith can thus offer a unique vantage point from which to understand the connections between epistemological and economic issues in Smith’s work. With a focus that is at once historical and philosophical, this undertaking serves three purposes: a) to familiarise economists with the philosophical and economic works of Thomas Reid, b) to sharpen our understanding of Adam Smith’s intellectual context in the Scottish Enlightenment, and c) to better understand the paradoxical role that individual human judgement plays in Adam Smith’s analysis of the economy.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
The “Science” of Political Economy – A Victory for Common Sense? 1
A Comparative Reading of Adam Smith and Thomas Reid 1
1. A Scottish Theme: Reid and Smith as Philosophers of Perception 2
1.1 Trust Your Senses 3
1.2 Plug the Gap Between Reason and Life 5
2. The Order of Judgement: “Top Down” and “Bottom Up” 6
2.1 Reid’s Tribunal 6
2.2. Smith’s Missing Link in the Chain 8
3. The Mind in the Market 10
3.1 Reid: An Optimism of a Higher Order 11
3.2 Smith: A Scepticism of a Higher Order 13
4. Disperse the Risks, Trust the Locals, and Face the Inevitable 13
4.1 Have Faith in the Common Ploughman 14
4.2 “Das neue Adam Smith Problem” 16
5. Conclusion 17
References 17

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