Francis O’Gorman (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281923
- eISBN:
- 9780191712951
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281923.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Victorian Britain offered the world an economic structure of unique complexity. The trading nation, at the heart of a great empire, developed the practices of advanced capitalism — currency, banking, ...
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Victorian Britain offered the world an economic structure of unique complexity. The trading nation, at the heart of a great empire, developed the practices of advanced capitalism — currency, banking, investment, money markets, business practices and theory, intellectual property legislation — from which the financial systems of the contemporary world emerged. Cultural forms in Victorian Britain transacted with high capitalism in a variety of ways but literary critics interested in economics have traditionally been preoccupied either with writers' hostility to industrial capitalism in terms of its shaping of class, or with the development of consumerism. This book is the first extended study to take seriously the relationships between literary forms and those more complex discourses of Victorian high finance. The chapters move beyond the examination of literature that was merely impatient with the perceived consequences of capitalism to analyse creative relationships between culture and economic structures. Considering such topics as the nature of currency, women and the culture of investment, the profits of a modern media age, the dramatization of risk on the Victorian stage, the practice of realism in relation to business theory, the culture of speculation at the end of the century, and arguments about the uncomfortable relationship between literary and financial capital, this book sets new terms for understanding and theorizing the relationship between high finance and literary writing in the 19th century.Less
Victorian Britain offered the world an economic structure of unique complexity. The trading nation, at the heart of a great empire, developed the practices of advanced capitalism — currency, banking, investment, money markets, business practices and theory, intellectual property legislation — from which the financial systems of the contemporary world emerged. Cultural forms in Victorian Britain transacted with high capitalism in a variety of ways but literary critics interested in economics have traditionally been preoccupied either with writers' hostility to industrial capitalism in terms of its shaping of class, or with the development of consumerism. This book is the first extended study to take seriously the relationships between literary forms and those more complex discourses of Victorian high finance. The chapters move beyond the examination of literature that was merely impatient with the perceived consequences of capitalism to analyse creative relationships between culture and economic structures. Considering such topics as the nature of currency, women and the culture of investment, the profits of a modern media age, the dramatization of risk on the Victorian stage, the practice of realism in relation to business theory, the culture of speculation at the end of the century, and arguments about the uncomfortable relationship between literary and financial capital, this book sets new terms for understanding and theorizing the relationship between high finance and literary writing in the 19th century.
Angela M. Lahr
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314489
- eISBN:
- 9780199872077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314489.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The dawning of the nuclear age brought premillennial speculation about the imminent end of the world that altered the evangelical assessment of the relationship between religion and science. ...
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The dawning of the nuclear age brought premillennial speculation about the imminent end of the world that altered the evangelical assessment of the relationship between religion and science. Eschatological beliefs about the potential impact of nuclear weapons blended with secular apocalypticism that even influenced American Cold War foreign policy. Simultaneously, evangelicalism's embrace of anticommunism in the early Cold War helped lead to the subculture's integration into the mainstream culture.Less
The dawning of the nuclear age brought premillennial speculation about the imminent end of the world that altered the evangelical assessment of the relationship between religion and science. Eschatological beliefs about the potential impact of nuclear weapons blended with secular apocalypticism that even influenced American Cold War foreign policy. Simultaneously, evangelicalism's embrace of anticommunism in the early Cold War helped lead to the subculture's integration into the mainstream culture.
S.C. Humphreys
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199269235
- eISBN:
- 9780191710094
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269235.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This book contains analyses both of Athenian religion and of the history of classical studies. It emphasizes that disciplinary history is an integral part of research, especially in interdisciplinary ...
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This book contains analyses both of Athenian religion and of the history of classical studies. It emphasizes that disciplinary history is an integral part of research, especially in interdisciplinary fields such as religion. It also highlights the intellectual aspects of religious thought and practice, and attacks the stereotype of religion and ritual as traditional and unchanging. The supernatural — like ‘nature’ in modern science — attracts speculation and experiment. Particular attention is given to the construction of classical studies and its subdisciplines in the 19th century university; to the genesis of the dichotomy rational/irrational in Greece in the 6th-5th centuries BCE (magnified in importance by 19th-century classicists); to the religious reforms of Lycurgus in Athens in the late 4th century BCE; to cultic innovation in the Attic demes; to the 18th-century origins of the idea that fertility cult was the earliest form of religion; and to the history of the Anthesteria festival.Less
This book contains analyses both of Athenian religion and of the history of classical studies. It emphasizes that disciplinary history is an integral part of research, especially in interdisciplinary fields such as religion. It also highlights the intellectual aspects of religious thought and practice, and attacks the stereotype of religion and ritual as traditional and unchanging. The supernatural — like ‘nature’ in modern science — attracts speculation and experiment. Particular attention is given to the construction of classical studies and its subdisciplines in the 19th century university; to the genesis of the dichotomy rational/irrational in Greece in the 6th-5th centuries BCE (magnified in importance by 19th-century classicists); to the religious reforms of Lycurgus in Athens in the late 4th century BCE; to cultic innovation in the Attic demes; to the 18th-century origins of the idea that fertility cult was the earliest form of religion; and to the history of the Anthesteria festival.
Katarina Juselius
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155234
- eISBN:
- 9781400846450
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155234.003.0011
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics
This chapter examines the relationship between speculation in the currency markets and aggregate activity in the real economy by drawing on the Structural Slumps theory and the theory of Imperfect ...
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This chapter examines the relationship between speculation in the currency markets and aggregate activity in the real economy by drawing on the Structural Slumps theory and the theory of Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE). It first considers exchange rate determination in two models, one based on the Rational Expectations Hypothesis (REH) and the other on the theory of IKE, before discussing some general principles for how to structure the observed persistence in the data, and how these principles can be used in the cointegrated vector autoregressive model. The chapter also explains how foreign currency speculation under IKE interacts with a customer market economy where profit shares are adjusting to fluctuations in real exchange rates and where the natural rate of unemployment is a function of nonstationary real long-term interest rates.Less
This chapter examines the relationship between speculation in the currency markets and aggregate activity in the real economy by drawing on the Structural Slumps theory and the theory of Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE). It first considers exchange rate determination in two models, one based on the Rational Expectations Hypothesis (REH) and the other on the theory of IKE, before discussing some general principles for how to structure the observed persistence in the data, and how these principles can be used in the cointegrated vector autoregressive model. The chapter also explains how foreign currency speculation under IKE interacts with a customer market economy where profit shares are adjusting to fluctuations in real exchange rates and where the natural rate of unemployment is a function of nonstationary real long-term interest rates.
John Casey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195092950
- eISBN:
- 9780199869732
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195092950.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The English speculated in an empirical way about heaven (as they had done about hell) in the seventeenth and eighteenth Centuries. Isaac Watts envisaged what was virtually a Royal Society of ...
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The English speculated in an empirical way about heaven (as they had done about hell) in the seventeenth and eighteenth Centuries. Isaac Watts envisaged what was virtually a Royal Society of intellectual speculation in heaven. Other thinkers discussed at length what avocations and travels would keep the saved occupied throughout eternity. The relation between our original bodies and the risen version was often discussed, with surprising results. Some—the “mortalists”—denied that the body could be immortal. One of the most striking speculative projects—Thomas Burnet's A Sacred Theory of the Earth, which explains what will happen after the General Resurrection—is described. There was also a heaven of sentimental eroticism, and a suggestion that we need not die at all.Less
The English speculated in an empirical way about heaven (as they had done about hell) in the seventeenth and eighteenth Centuries. Isaac Watts envisaged what was virtually a Royal Society of intellectual speculation in heaven. Other thinkers discussed at length what avocations and travels would keep the saved occupied throughout eternity. The relation between our original bodies and the risen version was often discussed, with surprising results. Some—the “mortalists”—denied that the body could be immortal. One of the most striking speculative projects—Thomas Burnet's A Sacred Theory of the Earth, which explains what will happen after the General Resurrection—is described. There was also a heaven of sentimental eroticism, and a suggestion that we need not die at all.
Alexis Lothian
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479811748
- eISBN:
- 9781479854585
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479811748.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
Old Futures traverses the history of imagined futures from the 1890s to the 2010s, interweaving speculative visions of gender, race, and sexuality from literature, film, and digital media. Centering ...
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Old Futures traverses the history of imagined futures from the 1890s to the 2010s, interweaving speculative visions of gender, race, and sexuality from literature, film, and digital media. Centering works by women, queers, and people of color that are marginalized within most accounts of the genre, the book offers a new perspective on speculative fiction studies while reframing established theories of queer temporality by arguing that futures imagined in the past offer new ways to queer the present. Imagined futures have been central to the creation and maintenance of imperial domination and technological modernity; Old Futures rewrites the history of the future by gathering together works that counter such narratives even as they are part of them. Lothian explores how queer possibilities are constructed and deconstructed through extrapolative projections and affective engagements with alternative temporalities. The book is structured in three parts, each addressing one convergence of political economy, theoretical framework, and narrative form that has given rise to a formation of speculative futurity. Six main chapters focus on white feminist utopias and dystopias of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; on Afrofuturist narratives that turn the dehumanization of black lives into feminist and queer visions of transformation; on futuristic landscapes in queer speculative cinema; and on fan creators’ digital interventions into televised futures. Two shorter chapters, named “Wormholes” in homage to the science fiction trope of a time-space distortion that connects distant locations, highlight current resonances of the old futures under discussion.Less
Old Futures traverses the history of imagined futures from the 1890s to the 2010s, interweaving speculative visions of gender, race, and sexuality from literature, film, and digital media. Centering works by women, queers, and people of color that are marginalized within most accounts of the genre, the book offers a new perspective on speculative fiction studies while reframing established theories of queer temporality by arguing that futures imagined in the past offer new ways to queer the present. Imagined futures have been central to the creation and maintenance of imperial domination and technological modernity; Old Futures rewrites the history of the future by gathering together works that counter such narratives even as they are part of them. Lothian explores how queer possibilities are constructed and deconstructed through extrapolative projections and affective engagements with alternative temporalities. The book is structured in three parts, each addressing one convergence of political economy, theoretical framework, and narrative form that has given rise to a formation of speculative futurity. Six main chapters focus on white feminist utopias and dystopias of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; on Afrofuturist narratives that turn the dehumanization of black lives into feminist and queer visions of transformation; on futuristic landscapes in queer speculative cinema; and on fan creators’ digital interventions into televised futures. Two shorter chapters, named “Wormholes” in homage to the science fiction trope of a time-space distortion that connects distant locations, highlight current resonances of the old futures under discussion.
Paul Helm
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199255696
- eISBN:
- 9780191602429
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199255695.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
An exposition of Calvin's distinction between God as he is in himself and as he is toward us is offered. His view is compared to that of Aquinas and is found to be very similar. The importance of the ...
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An exposition of Calvin's distinction between God as he is in himself and as he is toward us is offered. His view is compared to that of Aquinas and is found to be very similar. The importance of the distinction for Calvin's anti-speculative approach to theology is demonstrated.Less
An exposition of Calvin's distinction between God as he is in himself and as he is toward us is offered. His view is compared to that of Aquinas and is found to be very similar. The importance of the distinction for Calvin's anti-speculative approach to theology is demonstrated.
James Bergin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280292
- eISBN:
- 9780191602498
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280290.003.0012
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
Discusses models of information. Blackwells theorem in garbling and the value of information is proved. Monotonicity of decisions in signals is considered and related to supermodularity of the ...
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Discusses models of information. Blackwells theorem in garbling and the value of information is proved. Monotonicity of decisions in signals is considered and related to supermodularity of the pay-off function and monotone likelihood ratio. Rational expectations equilibrium is discussed and existence of rational expectations equilibrium considered. Finally, equilibrium in abstract games of incomplete information is considered.Less
Discusses models of information. Blackwells theorem in garbling and the value of information is proved. Monotonicity of decisions in signals is considered and related to supermodularity of the pay-off function and monotone likelihood ratio. Rational expectations equilibrium is discussed and existence of rational expectations equilibrium considered. Finally, equilibrium in abstract games of incomplete information is considered.
Peter C. Hodgson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199273614
- eISBN:
- 9780191602443
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199273618.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Hegel in his lectures first sets forth a philosophical definition of the concept of religion, then traces the development of the concept in the various determinate religions of humanity, and finally ...
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Hegel in his lectures first sets forth a philosophical definition of the concept of religion, then traces the development of the concept in the various determinate religions of humanity, and finally finds the consummation of the concept in the Christian religion. The concept of religion can be approached both empirically and phenomenologically. When the latter takes on speculative form it grasps religion as the self-consciousness of absolute spirit mediated in and through finite consciousness: religion is both a divine and a human action. This truth appears partially in the historical religions and completely in Christianity, which is described by Hegel as the consummate or absolute religion, the revelatory and revealed religion, and the religion of truth, freedom, and reconciliation. The chapter examines Hegel’s speculative redescription of the Christian metanarrative and asks whether his claims on behalf of this religion are excessive, heterodox, and/or heretical.Less
Hegel in his lectures first sets forth a philosophical definition of the concept of religion, then traces the development of the concept in the various determinate religions of humanity, and finally finds the consummation of the concept in the Christian religion. The concept of religion can be approached both empirically and phenomenologically. When the latter takes on speculative form it grasps religion as the self-consciousness of absolute spirit mediated in and through finite consciousness: religion is both a divine and a human action. This truth appears partially in the historical religions and completely in Christianity, which is described by Hegel as the consummate or absolute religion, the revelatory and revealed religion, and the religion of truth, freedom, and reconciliation. The chapter examines Hegel’s speculative redescription of the Christian metanarrative and asks whether his claims on behalf of this religion are excessive, heterodox, and/or heretical.
John Tolan, Gilles Veinstein, and Henry Laurens
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147055
- eISBN:
- 9781400844753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147055.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter demonstrates that ideological antagonism regularly yielded to political realism or commercial pragmatism, which, of course, did not eliminate the antagonism but at least bracketed it. It ...
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This chapter demonstrates that ideological antagonism regularly yielded to political realism or commercial pragmatism, which, of course, did not eliminate the antagonism but at least bracketed it. It argues that breaches existed in the wall of hostility, and that centuries of coexistence could not be reduced to an uninterrupted succession of violent acts and confrontations. Other temperaments, such as a taste for exoticism, intellectual curiosity, or philosophical speculation could more effectively break down the ideological barrier, but they undermined it only to a very limited degree during the period under consideration. Moreover, their consequences on the dominant ideology were uneven in their gravity. The ideology thus remained in the background but was never far off.Less
This chapter demonstrates that ideological antagonism regularly yielded to political realism or commercial pragmatism, which, of course, did not eliminate the antagonism but at least bracketed it. It argues that breaches existed in the wall of hostility, and that centuries of coexistence could not be reduced to an uninterrupted succession of violent acts and confrontations. Other temperaments, such as a taste for exoticism, intellectual curiosity, or philosophical speculation could more effectively break down the ideological barrier, but they undermined it only to a very limited degree during the period under consideration. Moreover, their consequences on the dominant ideology were uneven in their gravity. The ideology thus remained in the background but was never far off.
Michael Suk-Young Chwe
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162447
- eISBN:
- 9781400851331
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162447.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter analyzes Jane Austen's six novels, arguing that each is a chronicle of how a heroine learns to think strategically. For example, in Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland must learn to make ...
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This chapter analyzes Jane Austen's six novels, arguing that each is a chronicle of how a heroine learns to think strategically. For example, in Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland must learn to make her own independent choices in a sequence of increasingly important situations, and in Emma, Emma Woodhouse learns that pride in one's strategic skills can be just another form of cluelessness. In Pride and Prejudice, people's strategic abilities develop the least. Sense and Sensibility explores through the sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood how strategic thinking requires both thoughtful decision-making and fanciful speculation. The chapter also examines Persuasion and Mansfield Park. In all six novels, Austen theorizes how people, growing from childhood into adult independence, learn strategic thinking.Less
This chapter analyzes Jane Austen's six novels, arguing that each is a chronicle of how a heroine learns to think strategically. For example, in Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland must learn to make her own independent choices in a sequence of increasingly important situations, and in Emma, Emma Woodhouse learns that pride in one's strategic skills can be just another form of cluelessness. In Pride and Prejudice, people's strategic abilities develop the least. Sense and Sensibility explores through the sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood how strategic thinking requires both thoughtful decision-making and fanciful speculation. The chapter also examines Persuasion and Mansfield Park. In all six novels, Austen theorizes how people, growing from childhood into adult independence, learn strategic thinking.
John Baxter
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813126012
- eISBN:
- 9780813135601
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813126012.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Jonas claimed to be indifferent, as he was to the men who pressed themselves against him on crowded streetcars. Obscene graffiti gave him knowledge of anatomy, which improved when he gathered in a ...
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Jonas claimed to be indifferent, as he was to the men who pressed themselves against him on crowded streetcars. Obscene graffiti gave him knowledge of anatomy, which improved when he gathered in a cellar with some other boys to watch a girl on a swing show herself naked under her skirt. He had a few brushes with homosexuality. Because his work deals so frequently but often obliquely with sex, this has invited speculation about von Sternberg's sexuality. Superficially, he was almost obsessively heterosexual.Less
Jonas claimed to be indifferent, as he was to the men who pressed themselves against him on crowded streetcars. Obscene graffiti gave him knowledge of anatomy, which improved when he gathered in a cellar with some other boys to watch a girl on a swing show herself naked under her skirt. He had a few brushes with homosexuality. Because his work deals so frequently but often obliquely with sex, this has invited speculation about von Sternberg's sexuality. Superficially, he was almost obsessively heterosexual.
Antoin E. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198286493
- eISBN:
- 9780191596674
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019828649X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
Despite his popular reputation as a rake and a gambler, John Law (1671–1729) left a remarkable legacy of economic concepts at a time when economic conceptualization was very much at an embryonic ...
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Despite his popular reputation as a rake and a gambler, John Law (1671–1729) left a remarkable legacy of economic concepts at a time when economic conceptualization was very much at an embryonic stage. His vision of a monetary and financial system was more of the twenty‐first rather than the eighteenth century. Law believed in an economy of banknotes and credit where specie had no role to play. He was the first economic writer to use concepts such as demand and supply, the demand for and supply of money, the money‐in‐advance requirement, the circular flow of income, and the law of one price. Law was able to implement his economic theory in the form of economic policy during the Mississippi System that he created. This produced Europe's first stock market boom and crash. The collapse of the Mississippi System and closely afterwards the crash of the South Sea Bubble led to a lasting impression of Law as a failure. This book seeks to dispel this view.Less
Despite his popular reputation as a rake and a gambler, John Law (1671–1729) left a remarkable legacy of economic concepts at a time when economic conceptualization was very much at an embryonic stage. His vision of a monetary and financial system was more of the twenty‐first rather than the eighteenth century. Law believed in an economy of banknotes and credit where specie had no role to play. He was the first economic writer to use concepts such as demand and supply, the demand for and supply of money, the money‐in‐advance requirement, the circular flow of income, and the law of one price. Law was able to implement his economic theory in the form of economic policy during the Mississippi System that he created. This produced Europe's first stock market boom and crash. The collapse of the Mississippi System and closely afterwards the crash of the South Sea Bubble led to a lasting impression of Law as a failure. This book seeks to dispel this view.
Douglas John Casson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144740
- eISBN:
- 9781400836888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144740.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter argues that Locke's goal in turning to epistemology was not simply to engage in abstract speculation about philosophical difficulties, but to instruct his readers in the proper way to ...
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This chapter argues that Locke's goal in turning to epistemology was not simply to engage in abstract speculation about philosophical difficulties, but to instruct his readers in the proper way to govern their limited faculties and take on the burdens and responsibilities of judgment. Locke's philosophical investigations aim at a type of civic education; he seeks to teach his contemporaries the intellectual virtues of a properly governed mind. Although Locke continues to appeal to the traditional vocabulary of knowledge and opinion, he carefully shifts his readers' attention away from abstract, speculative reasoning and toward the importance of the faculty of judgment, which can attain degrees of probability but not certainty.Less
This chapter argues that Locke's goal in turning to epistemology was not simply to engage in abstract speculation about philosophical difficulties, but to instruct his readers in the proper way to govern their limited faculties and take on the burdens and responsibilities of judgment. Locke's philosophical investigations aim at a type of civic education; he seeks to teach his contemporaries the intellectual virtues of a properly governed mind. Although Locke continues to appeal to the traditional vocabulary of knowledge and opinion, he carefully shifts his readers' attention away from abstract, speculative reasoning and toward the importance of the faculty of judgment, which can attain degrees of probability but not certainty.
Peter Forrest
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199214587
- eISBN:
- 9780191706523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214587.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Religion
This introductory chapter explains why speculation about God is important even if does not provide probable conclusions. Firstly, speculation provides a sample out of all the possible hypotheses, and ...
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This introductory chapter explains why speculation about God is important even if does not provide probable conclusions. Firstly, speculation provides a sample out of all the possible hypotheses, and so if the best hypothesis out of the sample is theism-friendly, it is fairly probable that the best of all hypotheses is. Secondly, defensive apologetics uses speculation to show Christianity as consistent. Thirdly, speculation lifts the probability of theism enough to support revelation, which in turn supports theism, in a positive feedback called bootstrapping. Fourthly, speculation helps people understand better their religious beliefs. Next, speculation is part of a dialectic that leads to intellectual progress. Finally, even if the case for theism is judged to be weak, speculation can support a religious committed agnosticism.Less
This introductory chapter explains why speculation about God is important even if does not provide probable conclusions. Firstly, speculation provides a sample out of all the possible hypotheses, and so if the best hypothesis out of the sample is theism-friendly, it is fairly probable that the best of all hypotheses is. Secondly, defensive apologetics uses speculation to show Christianity as consistent. Thirdly, speculation lifts the probability of theism enough to support revelation, which in turn supports theism, in a positive feedback called bootstrapping. Fourthly, speculation helps people understand better their religious beliefs. Next, speculation is part of a dialectic that leads to intellectual progress. Finally, even if the case for theism is judged to be weak, speculation can support a religious committed agnosticism.
Alice H. Amsden
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139693
- eISBN:
- 9780199832897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139690.003.0004
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History, International
The successful late industrializing countries (the rest) followed a ‘low road’ to industrial development between 1850 and 1950 for lack of proprietary technology and related know‐how and skills. ...
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The successful late industrializing countries (the rest) followed a ‘low road’ to industrial development between 1850 and 1950 for lack of proprietary technology and related know‐how and skills. Although manufacturing experience accumulated, and the growth rate of output may even have increased, the rest could not industrialize fast enough just to keep pace with the North Atlantic. Few firms had been able to make the ‘three‐pronged investment’ to which the success of the modern business enterprise has been attributed: in up‐to‐date machinery and plants of optimal scale (large‐scale production units and capital investment); in managerial hierarchies and technological skills, as exemplified by the railroad industry; and in distribution networks. This chapter examines each of these qualifications in turn to try to understand why progress in the rest was so halting, covering high bankruptcy rates and low rates of return, imprudent financial practices, cheating, and fraud, and the role of North Atlantic emigration in the accumulation of manufacturing experience and skills. The final part of the chapter looks at finance in particular—investment, supply of capital, economic surpluses and fattening profits, speculation, and the ‘little push’ into heavy industry, as exemplified by the iron and steel industry.Less
The successful late industrializing countries (the rest) followed a ‘low road’ to industrial development between 1850 and 1950 for lack of proprietary technology and related know‐how and skills. Although manufacturing experience accumulated, and the growth rate of output may even have increased, the rest could not industrialize fast enough just to keep pace with the North Atlantic. Few firms had been able to make the ‘three‐pronged investment’ to which the success of the modern business enterprise has been attributed: in up‐to‐date machinery and plants of optimal scale (large‐scale production units and capital investment); in managerial hierarchies and technological skills, as exemplified by the railroad industry; and in distribution networks. This chapter examines each of these qualifications in turn to try to understand why progress in the rest was so halting, covering high bankruptcy rates and low rates of return, imprudent financial practices, cheating, and fraud, and the role of North Atlantic emigration in the accumulation of manufacturing experience and skills. The final part of the chapter looks at finance in particular—investment, supply of capital, economic surpluses and fattening profits, speculation, and the ‘little push’ into heavy industry, as exemplified by the iron and steel industry.
Athol Fitzgibbons
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198283201
- eISBN:
- 9780191596254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198283202.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
Examines the meaning of uncertainty in the General Theory and elsewhere, and compares the theory of uncertainty with the theory of probability in the Treatise on Probability.
Examines the meaning of uncertainty in the General Theory and elsewhere, and compares the theory of uncertainty with the theory of probability in the Treatise on Probability.
Antoin E. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 1989
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198286820
- eISBN:
- 9780191596681
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198286821.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
Cantillon's financial career was closely linked with that of John Law (1671–1729). Law wished to solve France's twin crises, the shortage of money and the high level of state indebtedness, through ...
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Cantillon's financial career was closely linked with that of John Law (1671–1729). Law wished to solve France's twin crises, the shortage of money and the high level of state indebtedness, through the establishment of a bank issuing paper money and a trading company to take over the national debt. Cantillon bought into the shares of the Mississippi Company at an early stage and made his first fortune by buying and selling its shares.Less
Cantillon's financial career was closely linked with that of John Law (1671–1729). Law wished to solve France's twin crises, the shortage of money and the high level of state indebtedness, through the establishment of a bank issuing paper money and a trading company to take over the national debt. Cantillon bought into the shares of the Mississippi Company at an early stage and made his first fortune by buying and selling its shares.
Antoin E. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 1989
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198286820
- eISBN:
- 9780191596681
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198286821.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
Describes Cantillon's involvement with two of the biggest speculators of the period, Lady Mary Herbert, daughter of the Duke of Powis, and Joseph Edward Gage. Both of them borrowed from Cantillon to ...
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Describes Cantillon's involvement with two of the biggest speculators of the period, Lady Mary Herbert, daughter of the Duke of Powis, and Joseph Edward Gage. Both of them borrowed from Cantillon to speculate in Mississippi shares.Less
Describes Cantillon's involvement with two of the biggest speculators of the period, Lady Mary Herbert, daughter of the Duke of Powis, and Joseph Edward Gage. Both of them borrowed from Cantillon to speculate in Mississippi shares.
Antoin E. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 1989
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198286820
- eISBN:
- 9780191596681
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198286821.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
How Cantillon made his second fortune by speculating against the French exchange rate and the Mississippi Company during the spring of 1720. John Law's attempts to keep the Mississippi System afloat ...
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How Cantillon made his second fortune by speculating against the French exchange rate and the Mississippi Company during the spring of 1720. John Law's attempts to keep the Mississippi System afloat are analysed along with his action in expelling Cantillon from France.Less
How Cantillon made his second fortune by speculating against the French exchange rate and the Mississippi Company during the spring of 1720. John Law's attempts to keep the Mississippi System afloat are analysed along with his action in expelling Cantillon from France.
