J. R. S. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207405
- eISBN:
- 9780191677656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207405.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter offers a series of impressions which were current in Europe as it entered the 15th century. The result is that there were a great variety of ideas present and an erratic line of ...
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This chapter offers a series of impressions which were current in Europe as it entered the 15th century. The result is that there were a great variety of ideas present and an erratic line of development which led to the coexistence of new ideas and factual information. The modification of the received ideas and perceptions of earlier generations was a slow process even after the discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. The explanation of real European knowledge of the world in the 14th century is given in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. This shows, in a bizarre fashion, the genuine information and soundly based theories which provided a good idea of what the growing number of literate persons of the time could know about the world at large, and of what they might hope to find if they were ever able to travel on their own account.Less
This chapter offers a series of impressions which were current in Europe as it entered the 15th century. The result is that there were a great variety of ideas present and an erratic line of development which led to the coexistence of new ideas and factual information. The modification of the received ideas and perceptions of earlier generations was a slow process even after the discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. The explanation of real European knowledge of the world in the 14th century is given in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. This shows, in a bizarre fashion, the genuine information and soundly based theories which provided a good idea of what the growing number of literate persons of the time could know about the world at large, and of what they might hope to find if they were ever able to travel on their own account.
Jack Russell Weinstein
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780300162530
- eISBN:
- 9780300163759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300162530.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter focuses on the literary complexity in this book's project and Smith's. The first section looks at the difficulties of using the contemporary language of pluralism to analyze an ...
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This chapter focuses on the literary complexity in this book's project and Smith's. The first section looks at the difficulties of using the contemporary language of pluralism to analyze an eighteenth-century text. It looks at the manner in which Smith might be said to postulate pluralism and begin to unravel its relationship with rationality. The second section shows that these types of literary tensions were not uncommon in Smith's times. The chapter aims to show that the debate between Mandeville and Smith was one about the place of rationality in negotiating human motivation.Less
This chapter focuses on the literary complexity in this book's project and Smith's. The first section looks at the difficulties of using the contemporary language of pluralism to analyze an eighteenth-century text. It looks at the manner in which Smith might be said to postulate pluralism and begin to unravel its relationship with rationality. The second section shows that these types of literary tensions were not uncommon in Smith's times. The chapter aims to show that the debate between Mandeville and Smith was one about the place of rationality in negotiating human motivation.
Jack Russell Weinstein
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780300162530
- eISBN:
- 9780300163759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300162530.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
The Theory of Moral Sentiments complementarily countered Mandeville's moral claims that virtue is the product of political manipulation, but for this, Smith also needed Shaftesbury's and Hutcheson's ...
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The Theory of Moral Sentiments complementarily countered Mandeville's moral claims that virtue is the product of political manipulation, but for this, Smith also needed Shaftesbury's and Hutcheson's discourses. This chapter develops the notion that a key ingredient for Smith's rationality comes from Shaftesbury's account of the soliloquy. This, blended with Hutcheson's multiple inborn senses, evolves into Smithian sympathy and his conception of the impartial spectator.Less
The Theory of Moral Sentiments complementarily countered Mandeville's moral claims that virtue is the product of political manipulation, but for this, Smith also needed Shaftesbury's and Hutcheson's discourses. This chapter develops the notion that a key ingredient for Smith's rationality comes from Shaftesbury's account of the soliloquy. This, blended with Hutcheson's multiple inborn senses, evolves into Smithian sympathy and his conception of the impartial spectator.
