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Adam Smith’s Economics and the Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres: The Language of Commerce

In: Adam Smith’s System

Author

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  • Benoît Walraevens

    (University of Caen Normandy)

Abstract

Under the light of Adam Smith’s Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (LRBL), the aim of this paper will be to reinterpret some Smithian economic and moral issues. More precisely, it will try to highlight the relationship between discursive practice and economic reality in apparent simplicity, exchange. According to Smith, the essence and foundation of exchange and commerce lies in language. The departure point of this study will be to examine the dichotomy that he establishes between two main types of discourse: the rhetorical discourserhetorical discourse and the didactic discoursedidactic discourse.

Suggested Citation

  • Benoît Walraevens, 2022. "Adam Smith’s Economics and the Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres: The Language of Commerce," Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Adam Smith’s System, chapter 6, pages 141-166, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:pshchp:978-3-030-99704-5_6
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-99704-5_6
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    1. Elias L. Khalil, 2005. "An anatomy of authority: Adam Smith as political theorist," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 29(1), pages 57-71, January.
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    3. Maria Pia Paganelli, 2008. "The Adam Smith Problem in Reverse: Self-Interest in The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 365-382, Summer.
    4. Jeffrey T. Young, 1995. "Natural Jurisprudence and the Theory of Value in Adam Smith," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 755-773, Winter.
    5. Force,Pierre, 2003. "Self-Interest before Adam Smith," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521830607.
    6. Spencer J. Pack, 1991. "Capitalism as a Moral System," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 346.
    7. Montes, Leonidas, 2003. "Das Adam Smith Problem: Its Origins, the Stages of the Current Debate, and One Implication for Our Understanding of Sympathy," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(1), pages 63-90, March.
    8. Jeffrey T. Young, 1986. "The Impartial Spectator and Natural Jurisprudence: An Interpretation of Adam Smith's Theory of the Natural Price," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 365-382, Fall.
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    Cited by:

    1. Laurie Bréban & Muriel Gilardone, 2019. "A missing touch of Adam Smith in Amartya Sen’s account of Public Reasoning: the Man Within for the Man Without," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2019-01-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    2. Marie Daou & Alain Marciano, 2022. "Commodification: The traditional pro-market arguments," Post-Print hal-03876907, HAL.

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