On Economic Sentiments

In Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet, and the Enlightenment, Emma Rothschild argues that eighteenth-century political and economic thought is deeply concerned with individual diversity, oppression, conflicts of interest, and general uncertainty towards the future. In large part, Rothschild argues against the popular perception that the Enlightenment fostered a cold, mechanical worldview that culminated in the scientific determinism of states like the Soviet Union. Instead, Rothschild argues, relying heavily on the economic works of Adam Smith, Condorcet, and Turgot, that political writing often came in the form of advocacy for a pluralistic, diverse world that aimed to fight oppression in all of its forms. Indeed, the Enlightenment had a great number of similarities with European romanticism, which was favored irrationality and exuberance over restrained reason.

Moreover, Rothschild correctly argues that that eighteenth-century economics was not a discipline that restricted itself to the world of finance and efficiency, but it helped to develop values of tolerance, diversity, and personal rights. For Smith, Condorcet, and Turgot, economics (or “political economy”) was deeply political and moral, aiming to liberate the poor and safeguard individual rights.

Although dense at times, this work is well worth reading for those interested in the history of liberalism, intellectual histories of economics, and the Enlightenment more broadly.