Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on the writings of John Locke, Adam Smith, Hugh Blair, and Herbert Spencer to explore how the discipline of rhetoric connected the economics and ethics of capitalism from the British Enlightenment through the nineteenth century.
Trade Review“The substantive chapters of this book repay close reading owing to the careful way that Longaker highlights and synthesizes important intellectual and historical currents that shaped a diverse group of English and Scottish thinkers across three centuries.”
—Mark E. Button The Review of Politics
“A learned, provocative, impressive book. For scholars in eighteenth century, it is a must read.”
—Arthur Walzer The Quarterly Journal of Speech
“Longaker gives us a nice overview of changing visions about how the budding capitalist civilization in Great Britain developed a new ethics and aesthetic taste to acquire sufficient symbolic and cultural capital in competition with the dominant aristocracy.”
—Jelle Versieren Aktief
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations for Frequently Cited Works
Definitions and Introductions
1 John Locke on Clarity
2 Adam Smith on Probity
3 Hugh Blair on Moderation
4 Herbert Spencer on Economy
Conclusions and Provocations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
