THE BIRTH OF ECONOMIC RHETORIC COMMUNICATION, ARTS AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS IN DAVID HUME AND ADAM SMITH ESTRELLA TRINCADO The Birth of Economic Rhetoric Estrella Trincado The Birth of Economic Rhetoric Communication, Arts and Economic Stimulus in David Hume and Adam Smith Estrella Trincado Facultad CC. Economicas y Empresariales Complutense University of Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain ISBN 978-3-030-14305-3 ISBN 978-3-030-14306-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14306-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932969 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: GettyImages/rabbit75_ist This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Contents 1 The Setting of the Play 1 2 Hume and Smith, Truth and Experience 15 3 David Hume 35 4 Adam Smith 87 5 Rhetoric in Hume and Smith 119 6 Consequences on Economic Theory 153 Conclusion 185 References 191 Index 213 v 1 The Setting of the Play 1.1 Introduction This book deals with the Scottish Enlightenment in an innovative way, relating Rhetoric, rationality and economics. It contributes to the comparison between the theory of David Hume and Adam Smith and shows, against some recent scholarship, that interest lies more in the differences between Hume and Smith than in their similarities. The birth of economic rationality determines the roots of different rhetor- ical usages of economic science. Therefore, this chapter sets the scene in the Scottish Enlightenment and shows that authors from this period had different concepts of time, which meant that the newborn baby of Rhetoric had different growth paths. In Chapter 2, we analyse the friendship of Hume and Smith, pointing out the similarities between them, but also the differences, which implied long-term bonds and commitments. In particular, in their objective to revolutionize knowl- edge and faith, Hume and Smith displayed different literary strategies. These different strategies also led to dissimilar appraisals of religion and the exhibition of piety. In Chapter 3, we provide an interpretation of Hume’s thought, supplying an explanation for the more important © The Author(s) 2019 1 E. Trincado, The Birth of Economic Rhetoric, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14306-0_1 2 E. Trincado elements that have traditionally defined his philosophy: his scepticism, his conservatism and his doctrine of utility. In Chapter 4, we prove that Adam Smith criticizes all of those theses presented by Hume: he was a realist and he gives a different definition of perception and pleasure, sympathy and rationality. Actually, Hume was describing “the mortal self” of Smith, but for Smith the active, ever present self, is the princi- pal actor of morality. In Chapter 5, we discuss Rhetoric and acknowl- edge differences also in the early formation of language, the basis for rationality. Then, literature, imitative arts and the theatre have different objectives in the theory of Hume and Adam Smith. Chapter 6 shows the consequences in economic theory of the different philosophies: the concept of time and language affect the objective of economic growth and also affect the instrument of money, blood and channel of produc- tion and growth. The book concludes with some important conclusions to be drawn on current philosophy. The comparison between these two great and fundamental philosophers, David Hume and Adam Smith, is a good setting for reconsidering the path the world will take in the future. 1.2 The Scottish Enlightenment Recently, the dominant tendency has sought to connect Scottish thought of the eighteenth century with the general Enlightenment, particularly the French. A first group of pioneering historians such as G. Bryson, D. Forbes and H. Trevor-Roper introduced the expres- sion the European Enlightenment movement.1 However, more recent studies have questioned the validity of such a reading. The existence of a Scottish Enlightenment with its own characteristics clearly distin- guished from the French or British Enlightenment is now evident.2 As against the French Enlightenment, the Scottish Enlightenment broke 1Bryson (1968), Forbes (1975), and Trevor-Roper (1972, 2010). 2See, for example, Bryson (1968), Hont and Ignatieff (1983), Skinner (1979), Campbell and Skinner (1982), and Berry (1997). 1 The Setting of the Play 3 with the a priori reason of the Middle Ages to go into the study of com- mon sense and the common world, to individual perception instead of the perception of an Almighty and inapprehensible Creator of human existence. In the opinion of Berry, Scotland was affected by the loss of the Scottish Parliament, as well as the loss of the capital in 1707 with the Act of the Union.3 Although the Scottish Parliament had decamped for London early in the century, Scotland remained the legal and ecclesi- astical capital. Edinburgh was at the time one of the most cosmopol- itan cities in all of Britain, boasting a rich cultural life and a group of prominent literati. This prompted the novelist Tobias Smollett to call it “a hot-bed of genius”. The Union brought times of peace, but the enlightened Scottish feared their disadvantageous position with respect to England. The concern of creating in Scotland a national charac- ter related and different from the dominant English culture led to the insistence on the need to stimulate everything that contributes to refine- ment in interpersonal and social relationships such as the creation of clubs and universities. The authentic heart of Scottish painting is shaped by the theoretical background developed by a heterogeneous group of authors known as Scottish literati (philosophers or moralists): Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson are some of the best-known characters, but no less significant are Hugh Blair, John Miller, William Robertson, Lord Kames (Henry Home) and poets and artists such as Robert Burns and Henry Raeburn.4 Robertson reinforces the sense of intellectual unity that, in his opin- ion, the Scottish Enlightenment movement has, which made “scientific” efforts in the fields of moral philosophy, historical narrative and “polit- ical economy”.5 One of the issues that most worried all those authors was the complex relationship between historical progress, economic or material, and the no less desirable moral improvement of the human 3Berry (1997, 8–19). 4Schneider (1967) and Gill (2006). 5Robertson (2000). 4 E. Trincado being.6 From this relationship arise, in turn, certain paradoxical situa- tions that must be accepted as they are the result of one’s own historical circumstances. The field of moral philosophy was always one of the favourites of the Scottish philosophers of the eighteenth century. The key international figure is undoubtedly Francis Hutcheson, considered by Campbell to be the authentic “father” of the Scottish Enlightenment.7 One of the main problems addressed in common from the moral sphere—but also from different angles and with confrontations by authors such as Hutcheson, Hume and Smith—was the challenge of Mandeville’s provocative “cyn- icism” to the belief in innately benevolent moral dispositions and sol- idarity among people. According to Scottish Enlightenment authors, the moral philosopher should inquire whether such benevolent quali- ties could arise from a society exposed to the temptations brought by material opulence. They needed to discern if sociability, virtue and jus- tice are natural to humanity or artificial constructions of the individual. Although it was not an incompatible approach in all cases with the reli- gious sentiment, in the end its more radical versions would be incom- patible. The “moral philosophy” consisted largely of an effort to apply the basic principles of “experimental philosophy” to the economic, political and social spheres. As against Hobbes, who based morals and political philosophy on a priori reasoning, first Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton, and then Hume tried to create a moral science based on the experimental method. Thus, Hume’s science of man sought to propose “experiments” that would contribute to unveiling the common mecha- nisms (such as the “association” principle) of individual psychology and social life. In the Scottish Enlightenment, this experimental method was applied to the social self, and the idea of reality as a mirror presented by Hume was key: “the minds of men are mirrors to one another, not only because they reflect each other’s emotions but also because those rays of passions, sentiments and opinions may be often reverberated, and may 6Rosales (2003). 7Campbell and Skinner (1982). 1 The Setting of the Play 5 decay away by insensible degrees”.8 The meaning of morality was in the eighteenth century still very much anchored in the public sphere since in the period the authentic solitary individual was still exceptional and relative. The eighteenth-century thinkers of the Scottish enlightenment when they spoke of human passions divided them between personal and those related to happiness or survival of the group. They sought for a balance between both passions. For example, sympathetic pas- sions were not always positive: going too far would lead to a repressive intolerance of differences, cultural fanaticism or aggression towards for- eigners. A “sympathetic” nationalism emerged: the moral philosophers were convinced that it was the social bonds, the small-scale sympathetic exchanges and not the wisdom of the ruler or the laws, that gradually united individuals into a larger national unity. So, the concept of the nation was to be relevant to reinforce people’s moral attitudes.9 1.3 The Birth of Rhetoric Rhetoric has been defined as the art or study of using language and dis- course effectively and persuasively; it may also be bombast or excessive use of ornamentation and contrivance in spoken or written discourse. The first concept, which implies persuasion, may be understood in two different ways: language used as an instrument for making someone come to your terms aiming at the search for some utility, be it more wealth or more contacts, influences or power; but language can also be an instrument of communication with the common-to-all world. Then, it is the raw material for creating new situations or sharing memories with other fellow creatures. These different perceptions of Rhetoric and language imply also different philosophies of life. These distinct views were clearly dis- tinguishable at the very moment in which Rhetoric began to be 8Hume (1964b), Treatise: II: II: VI: 152. 9Dwyer (1998).