1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790591503321

Autore

Berry Christopher J.

Titolo

The idea of commercial society in the Scottish Enlightenment / / Christopher J. Berry [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Edinburgh : , : Edinburgh University Press, , 2013

ISBN

0-7486-9378-5

0-7486-4533-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 244 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

192

Soggetti

Enlightenment - Scotland

Commerce - Philosophy

Commerce - History

Scotland Commerce History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Scotland, improvement and Enlightenment -- Commerce, stages and the natural history of society -- Prosperity and poverty -- Markets, law and politics -- Liberty and the virtues of commerce -- The dangers of commerce -- The idea of a commercial society.

Sommario/riassunto

The most arresting aspect of the Scottish Enlightenment is its conception of commercial society as a distinct and distinctive social formation. Christopher Berry explains why Enlightenment thinkers considered commercial society to be wealthier and freer than earlier forms, and charts the contemporary debates and tensions between Enlightenment thinkers that this idea raised. The book analyses the full range of literature on the subject, from key works like Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations', David Hume's 'Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects' and Adam Ferguson's 'Essay on the History of Civil Society' to lesser-known works such as Robert Wallace's 'Dissertation on Numbers of Mankind'.