Frederick Douglass’s connection to the British Enlightenment. Via David Henderson and David Beito, here is an excerpt from a letter Douglass wrote on November 17, 1864: “The old doctrine that the slavery of the black, is essential to the freedom of the white race, can maintain itself only in the presence of slavery, where interest […]
Frederick Douglass and Adam Smith Read More »
More precisely: Who is the most loathsome philosopher in his or her personal life? Let me set the bar high by naming my top two candidates. 1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who fathered several children and had them abandoned to orphanages, and of whom David Hume wrote in a letter to Adam Smith: “Thus you see, he
Who is the most loathsome philosopher in history? Read More »
The Enlightenment of the long 18th century was an era of awesome intellectual and cultural transformation. This Enlightenment Vision flowchart is pitched at a high level of abstraction, showing schematically how the philosophical revolution of the 17th century led to the 18th-century revolutions in science, technology, politics, and economics — which in turn led to
The Enlightenment Vision — updated flowchart Read More »
The Enlightenment of the long 18th century was an era of awesome intellectual and cultural transformation. My Enlightenment Vision flowchart [pdf] is pitched at a high level of abstraction, showing schematically how the philosophical revolution of the 17th century led to the 18th-century revolutions in science, technology, politics, and economics — which in turn led
The Enlightenment Vision — Flowchart Read More »
In Henry the VIII’s time, sugar became widely available in England. Those who could afford it used it on just about everything, and too much sugar causes one’s teeth to become black. But sugar was still expensive, so having black teeth came to be a symbol of wealth. Soon many of the English, women especially,
Fashion: white teeth — or black? Read More »
Reprising this chart which integrates the major answers to the question: What makes liberal capitalism good? The chart diagrams the positive claims about liberal capitalism by its defenders — John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and others. For elaboration, see my book Liberalism Pro and
Justifying liberal capitalism — flowchart Read More »
[This lecture is Part 3 of the Entrepreneurship and Values series and was recorded at Rockford University and sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.] Terry Noel on Management and Entrepreneurship Hello, my name is Terry Noel. I am an Associate Professor of Management and Quantitative Methods at Illinois State University. Today, we are going to talk
Terry Noel: Management and Entrepreneurship [transcript] Read More »
In this 10-minute video, Dr. William Kline (University of Illinois Springfield) outlines Adam Smith’s discussion of the division of labor from Chapters 1 and 3 of The Wealth of Nations:
William Kline on Adam Smith and the Division of Labor Read More »