Newton's real influence on Adam Smith and its context

Leonidas Montes

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2008, vol. 32, issue 4, 555-576

Abstract: While Newton's influence on Adam Smith has been widely acknowledged, there is scant research on the actual nature of this influence. This paper sums up a line of investigation delving into this issue. After a short introduction, it is argued that Newton's methodology is more complex than a merely positivistic interpretation. Then the context of Newton's influence during the turn of the seventeenth century and the eighteenth century is assessed. It will be suggested that a British (and particularly Scottish) interpretation of Newton diverges from the French reading of his legacy. The final section analyses Smith's understanding of Newton, arguing that the father of economics was a sophisticated interpreter. The intellectual context of what the Scottish Enlightenment made of Newton, and how he was interpreted, may have played a major role in explaining how Smith understood Newton's legacy. Copyright The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bem056 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:cambje:v:32:y:2008:i:4:p:555-576

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Cambridge Journal of Economics is currently edited by Jacqui Lagrue

More articles in Cambridge Journal of Economics from Cambridge Political Economy Society Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().