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Palgrave Macmillan

Adam Smith’s System

A Re-Interpretation Inspired by Smith's Lectures on Rhetoric, Game Theory, and Conjectural History

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  • © 2022

Overview

  • Brings considerable analytical insights to Smith studies and an ambitious general interpretation of Smith’s oeuvre
  • Addresses unexplored territory through a unique game-theory interpretation
  • Carries appeal across the social sciences

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought (PHET)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

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.

Reviews

“This collection of essays offers an interpretation of Smith’s thought that is particularly informed by Smith’s conception of rhetoric and by game theory. It is undoubtedly the claim to show that Smith’s social science is better and more clearly understood via the vehicle of game theory that will attract attention … . it is highly commendable for its extensive documentation of, and close engagement with, much extant Smith scholarship … .” (Tony Aspromourgos, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, May 8, 2023)

Authors and Affiliations

  • UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Andreas Ortmann

  • Center for Research in Economics and Management, Cherbourg Institute of Technology, University of Caen Normandy, Cherbourg en Cotentin, France

    Benoît Walraevens

About the authors

Andreas Ortmann is Professor of Experimental and Behavioral Economics at the School of Economics, UNSW Business School, Australia. Prior to his appointment at the Business School, he was Professor of Economics at CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic. Prior to that appointment, he taught at Bowdoin and Colby College, Maine, USA. He also was, for a year each, a visiting scholar of the Program on Non-Profit Organizations at Yale University, the Max-Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich, the Max-Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, and the Harvard Business School. His work has been published in journals such as Management Science, Energy Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Behavioural and Brain Sciences, Journal of Economic Theory, International Journal of Game Theory, Experimental Economics, Psychological Methods, Experimental Psychology: LMC, Economic Journal,European Economic Review, History of Political Economy, Rationality & Society, and many others. His interests are wide-ranging and include game theory, corporate finance, experimental economics, the experimental methods in the social sciences, and the history of economic thought. His Google scholar based index is currently 31 (last five years: 22). He uses Facebook heavily and also writes occasionally for outlets such as The Conversation.

Benoit Walraevens is Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Caen Normandy in France where he teaches economics at Cherbourg Institute of Technology, Caen’s Institute of Business Administration and IESEG Business School in Paris. His main fields of inquiry are the history of economic thought, economic philosophy, eighteenth-century political economy and moral and political philosophy. He has published papers in the European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, History of Economic Ideas, Revue économique and Cahiers d’économie politique.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Adam Smith’s System

  • Book Subtitle: A Re-Interpretation Inspired by Smith's Lectures on Rhetoric, Game Theory, and Conjectural History

  • Authors: Andreas Ortmann, Benoît Walraevens

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99704-5

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-99703-8Published: 20 September 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-99706-9Published: 20 September 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-99704-5Published: 19 September 2022

  • Series ISSN: 2662-6578

  • Series E-ISSN: 2662-6586

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 254

  • Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History of Economic Thought/Methodology, Philosophy of the Social Sciences

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