Description
Book SynopsisIllustrating the knowledge and ideas of thinkers such as Mandeville, Hume, Montesquieu and Smith, this book fully investigates the entire panorama of social sciences as well as providing a clear and concise analysis of the history of the social sciences from the point at which evolutionary theory entered the field.
Trade Review‘The questions raised by this short study of unintended consequences in the Enlightenment science of man will be of great interest to all students of the history of the social sciences and of the relationship of social science to both politics and religion.’ -- Ryan Patrick Hanley, Boston College, US
‘A learned journey through the challenges of understanding unintended consequences in European thought. From antiquity to modernity, unintended consequences have been morphed into intentions of either magical forces, deities, or some form of supreme rationality. Infantino eruditely walks us through how we eventually arrived at a genuine understanding of unintentionality.’ -- Maria Pia Paganelli, Trinity University, US
‘Infantino provides an essential contribution in understanding the intellectual history of “the problem of unintended consequences”. Emphasizing the continued importance of Hume, Smith, Hutcheson, and Montesquieu to problems of social organization and the dangers of expertise, Infantino provides a book of both great scholarly scope and contemporary relevance.’ -- Marianne Johnson, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, US
Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. The problem of the unintended consequences of human actions 2. Pierre Bayle and Bernard de Mandeville 3. Francis Hutcheson and David Hume 4. Charles-Louis de Montesquieu and Adam Smith 5. Initial continuities and discontinuities 6. Additional considerations References Index
