I have throughly enjoyed the various postings concerning Adam Smith.
I own the Modern Library version of the Wealth of Nations, the one with the Robert Heilbroner endorsement on the back of the dust jacket.
There was a mention of Newton by John Taber; did you guys know that Newton's original manuscripts were written in Latin. I wonder if Smith's originals were in Latin?
Thanks again, Tom
michael perelman wrote:
> John K. Taber wrote:
>
> > Would not this slow recognition [of Smith, MP] parallel the general acceptance of a
> > new
> > idea in the hard sciences?
>
> No. No. There is nothing hard in Smith that was not written about elsewhere before.
> What made Smith popular was the fear of popular rebellion in the wake of the French
> Rev., 1789, not 1879. He sounded progressive, calling for high wages, but his message
> was acquiescence in laissez faire. As I mentioned before, his own personal goal was
> the transformation of the personality of the masses to become more frugal, prudent,
> .... The stages idea of development meant that changing the mode of production would
> change human character.
>
> I fear that nobody else has any interest in this, so we should let the matter drop.
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu