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Author Fiori, Stefano.

Title Machines, bodies and invisible hands : metaphors of order and economic theory in Adam Smith / Stefano Fiori
Published Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, 2021

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Chapter 1. Introduction -- Part 1. Machines, Bodies, and Invisible Hands -- Chapter 2. Metaphors as conceptual tools -- Chapter 3. The metaphor of the machine -- Chapter 4. Smith and the organic metaphors -- Chapter 5. The invisible hand -- Part 2. Visible and Invisible Orders: The Secrets of Organization -- Chapter 6. Paradigms of Order in the Seventeenth Century: Intelligibility as Visibility -- Chapter 7. The Invisible Order: Imagination, Nature, and the Economic Sphere -- Chapter 8. Organization and Invisible Forces in the Life Sciences of the Late Eighteenth Century -- Part 3. Forms and Experiences of Time -- Chapter 9. Time and Social Order -- Chapter 10. Conclusions
Summary What was Adam Smiths intellectual laboratory? How did his economic theory take shape? Were his metaphors of order only residual and ornamental expressions? This book answers these questions by analyzing the formation of the concepts of market and social order in Adam Smiths work, by considering various aspects of his approach. It analyzes how metaphors and pre-analytical concepts influenced Smiths theory. In line with studies that deal with the cognitive role of metaphors in science, this book suggests that in Smiths work metaphors provided a framework, on which basis the theory subsequently developed. Therefore, as such they were part of that intellectual process which made possible the formation of structured concepts. The content and scope of the book permits a more comprehensive interpretation of Smiths thought, in which many aspects of his work are taken into consideration in order to explain a crucial problem for Smith: the nature and causes of social and economic order. The book also shows that in general, formation of theories is a complex process that includes pre-analytical views as non-residual parts of inquiry. Stefano Fiori teaches economics in the Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis University of Torino, Italy. His research fields focus on the history of economic thought and on the connection between philosophy, economics, and other social sciences, viewed in historical perspective. His scientific interests include pre-classical and classical economics, Austrian economics, institutional and new institutional economics, economic methodology, and theories of bounded rationality
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
SUBJECT Smith, Adam, 1723-1790 fast
Subject Economics -- History -- 18th century
Metaphor.
Metaphor
metaphor.
Economics
Metaphor
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9783030852061
3030852067