Our seminar this week focused on Adam Smith and Jonathan Swift.
We began with Louis' seminar paper which started with Smith saying that the opulence of a town can change a nation. This is quite a modern idea and Smith's ideas do translate into the modern world quite easily as he claims that the wealth of every nation is dependent on trade. Smith gives the examples of boom towns such as Manchester as a place that has thrived through trade in the way that Smith felt was best. He looked at the Romans as the originators of the modern world where the land you own affects what you manufacture. Smith was in favour of the free market and were he alive today, he would possibly point to Zimbabwe as an example of where the lack of free trade has caused the country to crumble. This is an example of Smith's links to his contemporary Hume as it recalls Hume's rights to life, liberty and property. You could also argue its link to the current banking crisis and the free trade that went on there to lead us to the situation we are in now.
Louis then moved on to Jonathan Swift and more specifically his Modest Proposal or to give it its full name, 'A Modest Proposal For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public'. The 'Modest Proposal', as it is more commonly known, outlines the use of the Irish children and specifically toddlers for food. It advocates the fattening up of one year old babies for food to sell to the rich as it would solve the debt problem in Ireland. Swift even specifies that 100,000 carcasses would be enough to benefit the state, because it benefits the state, I also believe the points he makes to be mercantile. Fortunately, this is a satirical work which satirises the un-emotional empiricist tracts of Locke and Hume. Even the title is a piece of satire, unusually long in its attempt to satirise the "Enquiry" and "Essay" like works of the day.
This seminar was one that I struggled the most with, especially the works of Adam Smith as I have no background in economics or business to use. I enjoyed Swift however as I appreciated the satire especially after having to sit here blogging away for months about these empiricists. Time for me to go do some revision, exam not far off now.
Until next time. Stay classy Internet.
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