Justin M. Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226711966
- eISBN:
- 9780226712154
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226712154.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book provides a new interpretive framework for Western archaeological expeditions along the Silk Road in northwestern China during the first three decades of the twentieth century. By placing ...
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This book provides a new interpretive framework for Western archaeological expeditions along the Silk Road in northwestern China during the first three decades of the twentieth century. By placing the expeditions of Aurel Stein, Paul Pelliot, Sven Hedin, and other explorers back within the original political, economic, cultural, and intellectual contexts of the late Qing and early Republican eras, the author challenges the longstanding assumption that coercion, deceit, and corruption were responsible for allowing Western archaeologists to remove so many cultural relics from China. This study concludes that the majority of people who interacted with the Western archaeologist in Xinjiang, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia made the conscious and willing decision to aid and abet his expedition in exchange for various forms of capital that were perceived to be of greater value than the objects he removed. In the decades after the 1911 revolution and World War I, however, the value of these compensations began to decrease as the value of the artifacts targeted by the archaeologist increased. As a result, a new generation of Westernized Chinese scholars began to criminalize the prior activities of Western archaeologists, who could no longer offer a form of compensation that exceeded the now priceless valuation projected onto the artifact within the newly imagined Chinese nation. This process of criminalization also played an influential role in formulating new ideas about cultural sovereignty that are still debated today.Less
This book provides a new interpretive framework for Western archaeological expeditions along the Silk Road in northwestern China during the first three decades of the twentieth century. By placing the expeditions of Aurel Stein, Paul Pelliot, Sven Hedin, and other explorers back within the original political, economic, cultural, and intellectual contexts of the late Qing and early Republican eras, the author challenges the longstanding assumption that coercion, deceit, and corruption were responsible for allowing Western archaeologists to remove so many cultural relics from China. This study concludes that the majority of people who interacted with the Western archaeologist in Xinjiang, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia made the conscious and willing decision to aid and abet his expedition in exchange for various forms of capital that were perceived to be of greater value than the objects he removed. In the decades after the 1911 revolution and World War I, however, the value of these compensations began to decrease as the value of the artifacts targeted by the archaeologist increased. As a result, a new generation of Westernized Chinese scholars began to criminalize the prior activities of Western archaeologists, who could no longer offer a form of compensation that exceeded the now priceless valuation projected onto the artifact within the newly imagined Chinese nation. This process of criminalization also played an influential role in formulating new ideas about cultural sovereignty that are still debated today.
Soraya de Chadarevian
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226685083
- eISBN:
- 9780226685250
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226685250.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The book is about chromosomes and the study of human heredity in the second half of the twentieth century. Today chromosomes are viewed as macromolecular assemblies and are analyzed with an array of ...
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The book is about chromosomes and the study of human heredity in the second half of the twentieth century. Today chromosomes are viewed as macromolecular assemblies and are analyzed with an array of molecular techniques. Yet throughout much of the twentieth century, researchers studied chromosomes looking down the microscope. In the 1950s, chromosome analysis emerged as a powerful tool to study heredity in humans. Unlike any other available technique, chromosome preparations offered a direct glimpse of the complete genome of an individual, opening up endless possibilities of observation and interventions. In the vision of its promoters the techniques had wide implications for the study of a growing number of genetic diseases, mental conditions, the study of cancer, the biology of sex determination, infertility and aging, for epidemiological investigations and comparative studies of human populations, in radiation studies and toxicology, in the courts and the policy arena. Critics, however, countered that visual evidence was not enough and pointed to the need to understand the molecular mechanisms. Taking human chromosomes and the techniques and images that came packaged with them as focal point, the book argues that the patient collecting of cases and the often bewildering variety of observations made by chromosome researchers looking down the microscope were as central to the making of human heredity as the search for fundamental mechanisms gleaned from the study of simple organisms pursued at the same time.Less
The book is about chromosomes and the study of human heredity in the second half of the twentieth century. Today chromosomes are viewed as macromolecular assemblies and are analyzed with an array of molecular techniques. Yet throughout much of the twentieth century, researchers studied chromosomes looking down the microscope. In the 1950s, chromosome analysis emerged as a powerful tool to study heredity in humans. Unlike any other available technique, chromosome preparations offered a direct glimpse of the complete genome of an individual, opening up endless possibilities of observation and interventions. In the vision of its promoters the techniques had wide implications for the study of a growing number of genetic diseases, mental conditions, the study of cancer, the biology of sex determination, infertility and aging, for epidemiological investigations and comparative studies of human populations, in radiation studies and toxicology, in the courts and the policy arena. Critics, however, countered that visual evidence was not enough and pointed to the need to understand the molecular mechanisms. Taking human chromosomes and the techniques and images that came packaged with them as focal point, the book argues that the patient collecting of cases and the often bewildering variety of observations made by chromosome researchers looking down the microscope were as central to the making of human heredity as the search for fundamental mechanisms gleaned from the study of simple organisms pursued at the same time.
Anne Warfield Rawls and Waverly Duck
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226703558
- eISBN:
- 9780226703725
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226703725.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Psychology and Interaction
Every time we interact with another person, we draw unconsciously on a set of expectations to guide us through the encounter. What many of us in the United States—especially White people—do not ...
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Every time we interact with another person, we draw unconsciously on a set of expectations to guide us through the encounter. What many of us in the United States—especially White people—do not recognize is that centuries of institutional racism have inescapably molded those expectations into taken-for-granted practices that reproduce the biases in our society. These practices can shape everything from how we greet our neighbors to whether we take a second look at a résumé. This is tacit racism, and it is one of the most pernicious threats to our nation. In this book we show how racism is coded into “everyday” expectations of social interaction, in what we call Interaction Orders of Race, in “tacit” taken-for-granted ways. This unconscious racism is coded into greeting and introductory sequences, perceptions of who can hold high status identities, and basic expectations about honesty, health and masculinity. We explore the Interaction Order expectations of Black Americans and their neighborhoods finding not only that social order among African Americans is different than for White Americans, but that it is more democratic. Because Race has been institutionalized in social expectations, acting on racism doesn’t require conscious intent: actions are racist if Race is coded into them. This tacit racism divides the nation, providing fertile ground for manipulation of issues associated with Race (e.g. healthcare, guns, voting rights and immigration) by foreign powers and wealthy special interests, such that Race divisions now pose a clear and present danger to the nation and our democracy.Less
Every time we interact with another person, we draw unconsciously on a set of expectations to guide us through the encounter. What many of us in the United States—especially White people—do not recognize is that centuries of institutional racism have inescapably molded those expectations into taken-for-granted practices that reproduce the biases in our society. These practices can shape everything from how we greet our neighbors to whether we take a second look at a résumé. This is tacit racism, and it is one of the most pernicious threats to our nation. In this book we show how racism is coded into “everyday” expectations of social interaction, in what we call Interaction Orders of Race, in “tacit” taken-for-granted ways. This unconscious racism is coded into greeting and introductory sequences, perceptions of who can hold high status identities, and basic expectations about honesty, health and masculinity. We explore the Interaction Order expectations of Black Americans and their neighborhoods finding not only that social order among African Americans is different than for White Americans, but that it is more democratic. Because Race has been institutionalized in social expectations, acting on racism doesn’t require conscious intent: actions are racist if Race is coded into them. This tacit racism divides the nation, providing fertile ground for manipulation of issues associated with Race (e.g. healthcare, guns, voting rights and immigration) by foreign powers and wealthy special interests, such that Race divisions now pose a clear and present danger to the nation and our democracy.
Blake R. Silver
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226703862
- eISBN:
- 9780226704197
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226704197.001.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
Young people are told that college is a place where they will “make friendships that will last a lifetime.” What happens when students arrive on campus and enter a new social world? The Cost of ...
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Young people are told that college is a place where they will “make friendships that will last a lifetime.” What happens when students arrive on campus and enter a new social world? The Cost of Inclusion delves into this rich moment to explore the ways young people seek out inclusion and its emotive counterpart, a sense of belonging. To illuminate the college social scene, Blake R. Silver spent a year immersed in student life at a large public university. Silver paired ethnographic observation with in-depth interviews with first-year college students in order to understand how individuals searched for and frequently failed to find inclusion in the social realm of higher education. Students sought diverse extracurricular groups where they could connect with others from a variety of backgrounds. However, as many soon realized, finding a sense of belonging in these settings often came at a cost. To be included, students encountered pressure to conform to racist and sexist stereotypes. This book examines how culture shapes identity and self-presentation, generating inequality at the intersections of race and gender. Silver argues that a laissez faire approach to the extracurriculum is undermining student success and marginalizing women and racial/ethnic minority students on campus. Opportunities for colleges and universities to address these disparities are explored.Less
Young people are told that college is a place where they will “make friendships that will last a lifetime.” What happens when students arrive on campus and enter a new social world? The Cost of Inclusion delves into this rich moment to explore the ways young people seek out inclusion and its emotive counterpart, a sense of belonging. To illuminate the college social scene, Blake R. Silver spent a year immersed in student life at a large public university. Silver paired ethnographic observation with in-depth interviews with first-year college students in order to understand how individuals searched for and frequently failed to find inclusion in the social realm of higher education. Students sought diverse extracurricular groups where they could connect with others from a variety of backgrounds. However, as many soon realized, finding a sense of belonging in these settings often came at a cost. To be included, students encountered pressure to conform to racist and sexist stereotypes. This book examines how culture shapes identity and self-presentation, generating inequality at the intersections of race and gender. Silver argues that a laissez faire approach to the extracurriculum is undermining student success and marginalizing women and racial/ethnic minority students on campus. Opportunities for colleges and universities to address these disparities are explored.
LaFleur Stephens-Dougan
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226698847
- eISBN:
- 9780226699035
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226699035.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
African American voters are a key demographic to the modern Democratic base, and conventional wisdom has it that there is political cost to racialized “dog whistles,” especially for Democratic ...
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African American voters are a key demographic to the modern Democratic base, and conventional wisdom has it that there is political cost to racialized “dog whistles,” especially for Democratic candidates. However, politicians from both parties and from all racial backgrounds continually appeal to negative racial attitudes for political gain. Challenging what we think we know about race and politics, LaFleur Stephens-Dougan argues that candidates across the racial and political spectrum engage in “racial distancing,” or using negative racial appeals to communicate to racially moderate and conservative whites—the overwhelming majority of whites—that they will not disrupt the racial status quo. Race-ing for Votes closely examines empirical data on racialized partisan stereotypes to show that engaging in racial distancing through political platforms that do not address the needs of nonwhite communities and charged rhetoric that targets African Americans, immigrants, and others can be politically advantageous. Racialized communication persists as a well-worn campaign strategy because it has real electoral value for both white and black politicians seeking to broaden their coalitions. Stephens-Dougan reveals that claims of racial progress have been overstated as our politicians are incentivized to employ racial prejudices at the expense of the most marginalized in our society.Less
African American voters are a key demographic to the modern Democratic base, and conventional wisdom has it that there is political cost to racialized “dog whistles,” especially for Democratic candidates. However, politicians from both parties and from all racial backgrounds continually appeal to negative racial attitudes for political gain. Challenging what we think we know about race and politics, LaFleur Stephens-Dougan argues that candidates across the racial and political spectrum engage in “racial distancing,” or using negative racial appeals to communicate to racially moderate and conservative whites—the overwhelming majority of whites—that they will not disrupt the racial status quo. Race-ing for Votes closely examines empirical data on racialized partisan stereotypes to show that engaging in racial distancing through political platforms that do not address the needs of nonwhite communities and charged rhetoric that targets African Americans, immigrants, and others can be politically advantageous. Racialized communication persists as a well-worn campaign strategy because it has real electoral value for both white and black politicians seeking to broaden their coalitions. Stephens-Dougan reveals that claims of racial progress have been overstated as our politicians are incentivized to employ racial prejudices at the expense of the most marginalized in our society.
Linda Phyllis Austern
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226701592
- eISBN:
- 9780226704678
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226704678.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This interdisciplinary study shows the extent to which literate sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English people considered music beyond its heard and performed aspects. It explains the remarkable ...
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This interdisciplinary study shows the extent to which literate sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English people considered music beyond its heard and performed aspects. It explains the remarkable range of ways in which they wrote about music and understood it to inform other endeavors, and how musical ideas were connected to other trends during an era marked by intellectual change. Music was considered both art and science, had a long-established place in many human enterprises, and inhabited the fluid conceptual space between abstraction and concretion. Music and musical terminology thus enabled explanation of complex ideas and provided points of contact between otherwise discrete fields of human learning across audible, visual, literary, and performed media. Music and musical language also facilitated carefully coded approaches to some of the era’s most hotly contested topics such as religion and the rising domains of scientific inquiry. Such understanding, in turn, influenced ways in which sounding music was practiced, and its materials were created, marketed, and presented. Furthermore, reading, writing, and talking about music were valuable skills for a culture in which the subtleties of musical knowledge signified status, and in which gentlemen in particular fraternized through discourse as well as sociable practice. Yet no matter how esoteric reference to music became, there always remained something of its audibility and potential to affect the body, soul, and all five senses.Less
This interdisciplinary study shows the extent to which literate sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English people considered music beyond its heard and performed aspects. It explains the remarkable range of ways in which they wrote about music and understood it to inform other endeavors, and how musical ideas were connected to other trends during an era marked by intellectual change. Music was considered both art and science, had a long-established place in many human enterprises, and inhabited the fluid conceptual space between abstraction and concretion. Music and musical terminology thus enabled explanation of complex ideas and provided points of contact between otherwise discrete fields of human learning across audible, visual, literary, and performed media. Music and musical language also facilitated carefully coded approaches to some of the era’s most hotly contested topics such as religion and the rising domains of scientific inquiry. Such understanding, in turn, influenced ways in which sounding music was practiced, and its materials were created, marketed, and presented. Furthermore, reading, writing, and talking about music were valuable skills for a culture in which the subtleties of musical knowledge signified status, and in which gentlemen in particular fraternized through discourse as well as sociable practice. Yet no matter how esoteric reference to music became, there always remained something of its audibility and potential to affect the body, soul, and all five senses.
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226454559
- eISBN:
- 9780226454726
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226454726.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Through readings of the opinions of the US Supreme Court and other legal texts, this book shows how “the church” as a religious collective is granted special privilege in US law. In-depth analyses of ...
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Through readings of the opinions of the US Supreme Court and other legal texts, this book shows how “the church” as a religious collective is granted special privilege in US law. In-depth analyses of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby reveal that the law tends to honor the religious rights of the group—whether in the form of a church, as in Hosanna-Tabor, or in corporate form, as in Hobby Lobby—over the rights of the individual, offering corporate religious entities an autonomy denied to their respective members. In discussing the various communities that construct the “church-shaped space” in American law, this book also considers disputes over church property, the legal exploitation of the black church in the criminal justice system, and the recent case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Church State Corporation challenges basic beliefs about the ties between religion and law in ostensibly secular democracies.Less
Through readings of the opinions of the US Supreme Court and other legal texts, this book shows how “the church” as a religious collective is granted special privilege in US law. In-depth analyses of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby reveal that the law tends to honor the religious rights of the group—whether in the form of a church, as in Hosanna-Tabor, or in corporate form, as in Hobby Lobby—over the rights of the individual, offering corporate religious entities an autonomy denied to their respective members. In discussing the various communities that construct the “church-shaped space” in American law, this book also considers disputes over church property, the legal exploitation of the black church in the criminal justice system, and the recent case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Church State Corporation challenges basic beliefs about the ties between religion and law in ostensibly secular democracies.
Michael Taussig
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226684581
- eISBN:
- 9780226698700
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226698700.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
For centuries, humans have excelled at mimicking nature in order to exploit it. Now, with the existential threat of global climate change on the horizon, the ever-provocative Michael Taussig asks ...
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For centuries, humans have excelled at mimicking nature in order to exploit it. Now, with the existential threat of global climate change on the horizon, the ever-provocative Michael Taussig asks what function a newly invigorated mimetic faculty might exert along with such change. Mastery of Non-Mastery in the Age of Meltdown is not solely a reflection on our condition but also a theoretical effort to reckon with the impulses that have fed our relentless ambition for dominance over nature. Taussig seeks to move us away from the manipulation of nature and reorient us to different metaphors and sources of inspiration to develop a new ethical stance toward the world. His ultimate goal is to undo his readers’ sense of control and engender what he calls “mastery of non-mastery.” This unique book developed out of Taussig’s work with peasant agriculture and his artistic practice, which brings performance art together with aspects of ritual. Through immersive meditations on Walter Benjamin, D. H. Lawrence, Emerson, Bataille, and Proust, Taussig grapples with the possibility of collapse and with the responsibility we bear for it.Less
For centuries, humans have excelled at mimicking nature in order to exploit it. Now, with the existential threat of global climate change on the horizon, the ever-provocative Michael Taussig asks what function a newly invigorated mimetic faculty might exert along with such change. Mastery of Non-Mastery in the Age of Meltdown is not solely a reflection on our condition but also a theoretical effort to reckon with the impulses that have fed our relentless ambition for dominance over nature. Taussig seeks to move us away from the manipulation of nature and reorient us to different metaphors and sources of inspiration to develop a new ethical stance toward the world. His ultimate goal is to undo his readers’ sense of control and engender what he calls “mastery of non-mastery.” This unique book developed out of Taussig’s work with peasant agriculture and his artistic practice, which brings performance art together with aspects of ritual. Through immersive meditations on Walter Benjamin, D. H. Lawrence, Emerson, Bataille, and Proust, Taussig grapples with the possibility of collapse and with the responsibility we bear for it.
Zachary Dorner
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226706801
- eISBN:
- 9780226706948
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226706948.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Imperialism and Colonialism
Merchants of Medicines reinterprets the long-distance medicine trade as an economic and political project essential to empire. Systems of exchange, plantation agriculture, military fiscalism, and ...
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Merchants of Medicines reinterprets the long-distance medicine trade as an economic and political project essential to empire. Systems of exchange, plantation agriculture, military fiscalism, and healthcare developed together on a global scale from the late seventeenth century to the era of Atlantic revolutions. Questions of how and why they did so, and with what consequences for a range of people organize the book. It follows medicines from their manufacture in Britain, across trade routes, and to the edges of empire, along the way telling a story of what medicines were, what they did, and what they meant. The narrative encompasses London laboratories, Caribbean estates, South Asian factories, and New England timber camps to recover how the production, distribution, and consumption of manufactured medicines linked those systems. Medicines offered the prospect of health and wealth, while underwriting the gendered and racialized regimes at the core of commercial empires. They also reshaped the ways people understood themselves, their neighbors, and the world around them. By bringing together histories of capitalism, empire, medicine, and science, Merchants of Medicines offers a new history of economic and medical development across early America, Britain, and South Asia, revealing the unsettlingly close ties among medicine, finance, warfare, and slavery that shaped the course of healthcare and political economy.Less
Merchants of Medicines reinterprets the long-distance medicine trade as an economic and political project essential to empire. Systems of exchange, plantation agriculture, military fiscalism, and healthcare developed together on a global scale from the late seventeenth century to the era of Atlantic revolutions. Questions of how and why they did so, and with what consequences for a range of people organize the book. It follows medicines from their manufacture in Britain, across trade routes, and to the edges of empire, along the way telling a story of what medicines were, what they did, and what they meant. The narrative encompasses London laboratories, Caribbean estates, South Asian factories, and New England timber camps to recover how the production, distribution, and consumption of manufactured medicines linked those systems. Medicines offered the prospect of health and wealth, while underwriting the gendered and racialized regimes at the core of commercial empires. They also reshaped the ways people understood themselves, their neighbors, and the world around them. By bringing together histories of capitalism, empire, medicine, and science, Merchants of Medicines offers a new history of economic and medical development across early America, Britain, and South Asia, revealing the unsettlingly close ties among medicine, finance, warfare, and slavery that shaped the course of healthcare and political economy.
Margaret Schabas and Carl Wennerlind
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226597447
- eISBN:
- 9780226691251
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226691251.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
As part of his study of human nature and the “science of man,” the great Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) wrote extensively on economics. A Philosopher’s Economist is the first systematic ...
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As part of his study of human nature and the “science of man,” the great Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) wrote extensively on economics. A Philosopher’s Economist is the first systematic study in English of Hume’s economics and positions it in the broader context of his philosophical thought and the European Enlightenment. It argues that economics was not a brief diversion, but rather served as a unifying thread that connects Hume’s life and writings. Hume’s probing insights into epistemology and moral agency laid the foundation for his economic analysis, and his belief that prosperity unleashed important transformations, expanding the sphere of polite society, secular mores, and religious toleration. Above all, Hume wished to promote political stability and global peace, and to that end he recognized the critical importance of understanding the rise and spread of capitalism. Nevertheless, Hume was not an unqualified enthusiast for capitalism. Military conflicts between rival commercial nations, for example, incurred an escalating public debt that destabilized the government. Hume also deplored monopolies, slavery, and colonialization, which were constitutive of the economic expansion of the Western European nations. Hume’s economics was thus forged with a keen eye to explicit and implicit power relations, and the institutions that fostered the spread of trade and commerce. This book demonstrates that Hume’s vision, as a philosopher’s economist, is comparable if not greater in depth to that of Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, or John Maynard Keynes.Less
As part of his study of human nature and the “science of man,” the great Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) wrote extensively on economics. A Philosopher’s Economist is the first systematic study in English of Hume’s economics and positions it in the broader context of his philosophical thought and the European Enlightenment. It argues that economics was not a brief diversion, but rather served as a unifying thread that connects Hume’s life and writings. Hume’s probing insights into epistemology and moral agency laid the foundation for his economic analysis, and his belief that prosperity unleashed important transformations, expanding the sphere of polite society, secular mores, and religious toleration. Above all, Hume wished to promote political stability and global peace, and to that end he recognized the critical importance of understanding the rise and spread of capitalism. Nevertheless, Hume was not an unqualified enthusiast for capitalism. Military conflicts between rival commercial nations, for example, incurred an escalating public debt that destabilized the government. Hume also deplored monopolies, slavery, and colonialization, which were constitutive of the economic expansion of the Western European nations. Hume’s economics was thus forged with a keen eye to explicit and implicit power relations, and the institutions that fostered the spread of trade and commerce. This book demonstrates that Hume’s vision, as a philosopher’s economist, is comparable if not greater in depth to that of Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, or John Maynard Keynes.