The Rhetorical Structure of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (and What Caused It)

Andreas Ortmann and Benoît Walraevens

Chapter 2 in Adam Smith’s System, 2022, pp 31-65 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract We first review Smith’s understanding and use of rhetoric. We stress that Smith was very much aware of the strategic nature of the interaction between speaker or writer and listener(s) or reader(s) and that in situations of divergent interests, different strategies might have to be applied, compared to situations where the only purpose was to impart/instill knowledge. We argue that the strategic nature of interaction motivated the very specific sequencing of books in Smith’s second major published work, An Inquiry into The Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations. Analyzing furthermore the political context of its publication, we make the case for the central importance of its Book V, “Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth,” which tends to be neglected in most accounts of Smith’s oeuvre.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:pshchp:978-3-030-99704-5_2

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-99704-5_2

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