Adam Smith's rhetorical sympathy : a return of moral sentiments to public policy /

Since Adam Smith's highly successful Wealth of Nations, most scholarship built on his work has been economic in scope and has ignored the greater implications of his contribution to policy-making. This thesis examines the role moral sentiment played in Smith's conception of society and ho...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gore, David Charles
Format: Thesis eBook
Language:English
Published: [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] ; 2001.
Subjects:
Online Access:Link to OAKTrust copy
Description
Summary:Since Adam Smith's highly successful Wealth of Nations, most scholarship built on his work has been economic in scope and has ignored the greater implications of his contribution to policy-making. This thesis examines the role moral sentiment played in Smith's conception of society and how this contributed to the rhetorical theory of his day and ours. Specifically I argue that Smith's concept of sympathy was a means of ensuring that public policy would not lose touch with its rhetorical roots. As part of this larger argument I review the concepts of sympathy and self-interest as they developed from Smith's work and show how they work together to induce cooperation among citizens. Finally, I illustrate how sympathy and self-interest work together to support a new method of human cooperation called Collaborative Learning, which will prepare the possibility for further work on the sympathy/self-interest dichotomy in twenty-first century policy-making.
Item Description:"Major subject: Speech Communication".
Vita.
Physical Description:vii, 103 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Also available online.
Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-102).