Adam Smith on What Is Wrong with Economic Inequality

2016 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
DENNIS C. RASMUSSEN
Keyword(s):  
Adam Smith ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The Other ◽  
Commercial Society ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The One ◽  
High Degree

This article explores Adam Smith's attitude toward economic inequality, as distinct from the problem of poverty, and argues that he regarded it as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, as has often been recognized, Smith saw a high degree of economic inequality as an inevitable result of a flourishing commercial society, and he considered a certain amount of such inequality to be positively useful as a means of encouraging productivity and bolstering political stability. On the other hand, it has seldom been noticed that Smith also expressed deep worries about some of the other effects of extreme economic inequality—worries that are, moreover, interestingly different from those that dominate contemporary discourse. In Smith's view, extreme economic inequality leads people to sympathize more fully and readily with the rich than the poor, and this distortion in our sympathies in turn undermines both morality and happiness.

John Chrysostom on Almsgiving and the Use of Money

1994 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blake Leyerle
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
John Chrysostom ◽  
The One ◽  
Real Wealth

Few themes so dominate the homilies of John Chrysostom (ca. 347–407 CE) as the plight of the poor and the necessity of almsgiving. His picture of the poor, however, is always set against the prosperous marketplace of late antiquity. It seems therefore scarcely surprising that his sermons on almsgiving resound with the language of investment. With such imagery, Chrysostom tried not only to prod wealthy Christians into acts of charity but also, and perhaps more importantly, to dislodge his rich parishioners from their conviction that an uncrossable social gulf separated them from the poor. The rhetorical strategy he used is typical of all his polemical attacks. On the one hand, he denigrated the pursuit of money and social status as fundamentally unattractive; it is both unchristian and unmasculine. On the other hand, he insisted that real wealth and lasting prestige should indeed be pursued, but more effectively through almsgiving. I shall first examine how Chrysostom effected this recalculation of wealth, and then I shall turn to the question of whether there may have been some advantage for him in pleading so eloquently on behalf the poor.

Mathematics and Time

KronoScope ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Broad Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Evolutionary Development ◽  
Structure And Properties ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Systematic Uncertainties ◽  
Human Capacity ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The One ◽  
Axiomatic Systems

AbstractThe structure of mathematics, as revealed by the exploration of axiomatic systems, bears striking similarities to the structure of nature, as revealed by the hierarchical theory of time. It is assumed that this isomorphism is not accidental but reflects the evolutionary development of the human capacity of handling numbers. This assumption permits a conjecture. Namely, if mathematics is found to possess certain systematic uncertainties, than nature must also possess corresponding qualities which may be identified. The paper proposes that the theme of the conference, "time and uncertainty," be understood in this broad context. I would like to demonstrate the existence of certain striking similarities between the structure and properties of mathematics on the one hand and, on the other hand, the structures and processes of nature at large, as revealed by the hierarchical theory of time. Then, using these correspondences, I propose a framework that promises to provide a unified perspective for the rich program we have ahead.

scholarly journals Hidden Ekphrasis in the Works of Miroslav Krleža

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-133
Author(s):  
Nataša Lah
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Art History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Mise En Scene ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Miroslav Krleza ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The One

Throughout the entire literary oeuvre of Miroslav Krleža we are faced with a great number of credible descriptions, describing real historic events, or real artists and artworks belonging to the rich resources of European art history. By applying a cryptographic method of incorporating descriptions into his texts, Krleža on the one hand hid his sources, while on the other also revealed them. He hid them in the tissue of fictional texts, and unmasked them using a key work only those familiar with the source could identify. We term this method the use of “belletristic cryptograms”, and can further categorise it into thematic subgroups of concealed artwork descriptions, naming this whole method the use of hidden ekphrasis. The choice of artworks Krleža describes in his work is comprehensive, diverse and each described differently. Since we are dealing with literary texts, descriptions are often used in the function of a wide array of interpretative strategies of depiction; in some aspects, they are used as a mere glimpse into a piece of art with the goal of visually associating, evoking or minutely symbolizing the incorporeal frame of an artist’s mind or of the wider social context. In other aspects, the artworks are richly and meticulously presented with regard to their importance and credibility as they, according to Krleža, possess an “ethical intelligence” and “ethical conscience”. Only Krleža’s prose is researched here, and this is done on two levels. We take a look at examples where real art is incorporated into fictional texts in order to determine the significance and meaning of a certain dialogue, mise-en-scène or situation. This is most commonly found in the author’s plays, novels and novellas. On the other hand, we can trace a completely opposite method by which artworks enter these texts, where, due to their historic determination and already established worth/status, they thus re-enter reality, as seen from the perspective of Krleža’s life and work, so as to yet again test art history’s credibility through the matrix of contemporaneity. This approach is most often found in Krleža’s essays, critiques and diary entries.

Protective Effect of Warfarin in Arterial Thrombosis: Evidence from a Vascular Prosthesis Model in Rats

1983 ◽  
Vol 50 (04) ◽  
pp. 821-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ine Reyers ◽  
Giovanni de Gaetano ◽  
Maria Benedetta Donati
Keyword(s):  
Arterial Thrombosis ◽  
Bleeding Time ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Vascular Prosthesis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Antithrombotic Effect ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Wall Interaction ◽  
The One ◽  
High Degree

SummaryThree different schedules of treatment with warfarin were studied in rats bearing a polyethylene cannula in their abdominal aorta. The time of occlusion of the vascular prosthesis was significantly prolonged when warfarin was started 24 hr previously, at the time of loop insertion or 24 hr later. When the drug treatment was started 24 hr before insertion of the loop, however, a high degree of toxicity was observed. The animals of this group that died of hemorrhage had significantly lower mean thrombotest levels.On the other hand, the correlation between occlusion of the loop and level of anticoagulation was not as simple as one might anticipate; on the one hand, severe anticoagulation did not protect all of the rats from loop occlusion, but, on the other hand, recovery from hypocoagulability was not always immediately followed by occlusion of the loop.In order to better elucidate the mechanism of the antithrombotic effect of warfarin, we also assessed the effect of the drug on platelet-vessel wall interaction by the template bleeding time. A close association existed between warfarin-induced hypocoagulability and prolongation of the bleeding time.These observations may constitute the experimental basis for a better understanding of the antithrombotic effect of warfarin in some arterial diseases and in myocardial infarction.

Die „Erfindung“ der Barmherzigkeit im Alten Israel. Biblische und nachbiblische Perspektiven

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-306
Author(s):  
Shimon Gesundheit
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The One

Abstract For quite a long time it has been part of the opinio communis within Hebrew Bible scholarship that compassion and empathy with persona miserae is in its very meaning invented by Ancient Israel. This view has been challenged by a comparative study of Frank C. Fensham. The present article shows on the one hand that care for the poor, widows and orphans is in fact not innovative. On the other hand, a closer analysis is able to show that the biblical and Jewish care for the strangers, slaves and animals is indeed unique.

Governing Singapore

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 282-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsai-Wei Sun
Keyword(s):  
Historical Review ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The Other ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
Fair Competition ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system on the governance of Singapore, particularly in terms of equity and inclusiveness, accountability, and participation. Design/methodology/approach – Historical review and election data from Singapore government web site are used. Findings – The GRC system seems to be friendlier and fairer toward ethnic minorities than the traditional system. The GRC system also encourages political parties to be ethnically more inclusive. On the other hand, however, the GRC system has negative effects on opposition parties. A government cannot be called “accountable” if it lacks fair competition and sufficient popular participation. Originality/value – The Singapore experience shows that, in practice, ethnic equality/inclusiveness and even political stability on the one hand, and participation and accountability on the other hand, can present conflicts. Which value should receive priority thus requires serious consideration.

scholarly journals Proper name-marking via liaison in French

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-652
Author(s):  
Natascha Pomino ◽  
Elisabeth Stark
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
The Other ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Relevant Point ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
The One

Abstract The liaison consonant [z] in French noun phrases has traditionally been assumed to function as a plural marker. The realization of “plural [z]” in N(oun)-A(djective)-combinations is becoming, however, very rare in naturalistic data – except for contexts which allow a proper-name reading. On the one hand, one might think that we are dealing with a recent phenomenon, the beginning of a potential linguistic change in French in the sense of exaptation, reuse of former morphophonological material such as plural markers to signal proper-namehood in the sense of ‘frozen morphology’. If this turns out correct, we expect the productivity of the new synchronic function to increase: New NA-combinations which function as proper names should be realized systematically with liaison, and proper name-marking via liaison should also become possible with other liaison consonants. On the other hand, we may be dealing with a (completed) diachronic process, in that only those NA-combinations which allowed liaison at the relevant point in time may have a liaison consonant in their univerbalized form. That is, new NA-combinations, even though they are used as proper names, do not display a liaison consonant, because liaison is no longer possible. The purpose of this paper was to investigate, based on empirical studies, whether liaison productively marks NA-combinations which function as proper names and distinguishes them from NA-combinations that count as common nouns, or whether we are dealing with a completed diachronic process. In view of the poor productivity observed, we argue that we are dealing with cases of univerbation.

Locative Complements of Verbs of Movement in Czech

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 87-113
Author(s):  
Marta Ungermanová
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The One ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Made In

This paper describes the syntactic properties of three types of locative complements in Czech that are compatible with verbs of movement. The distinction between these complements (each with its own interpretation) is made in the first place on the basis of several formal criteria (in particular, involving the rich Czech morphology), and, in addition, on semantic criteria. It is examined whether there exists sufficient correspondence between these criteria, and in particular, to what extent they can satisfactorily classify locative complements into essential and circumstantial ones. It is shown that there is no clear-cut distinction between these two categories of locative complements with Czech movement verbs. Furthermore, the syntactic role of the locative complements is shown to depend mainly on the verb, but also on other elements of the sentence. Finally, on the basis of several examples, it is argued that, on the one hand, the form of the complement does not predict its syntactic role and interpretation and, on the other hand, that two different forms can share the same syntactic role and interpretation.

scholarly journals Hidden Ekphrasis in the Works of Miroslav Krleža

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-133
Author(s):  
Nataša Lah
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Art History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Mise En Scene ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Miroslav Krleza ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The One

Throughout the entire literary oeuvre of Miroslav Krleža we are faced with a great number of credible descriptions, describing real historic events, or real artists and artworks belonging to the rich resources of European art history. By applying a cryptographic method of incorporating descriptions into his texts, Krleža on the one hand hid his sources, while on the other also revealed them. He hid them in the tissue of fictional texts, and unmasked them using a key work only those familiar with the source could identify. We term this method the use of “belletristic cryptograms”, and can further categorise it into thematic subgroups of concealed artwork descriptions, naming this whole method the use of hidden ekphrasis. The choice of artworks Krleža describes in his work is comprehensive, diverse and each described differently. Since we are dealing with literary texts, descriptions are often used in the function of a wide array of interpretative strategies of depiction; in some aspects, they are used as a mere glimpse into a piece of art with the goal of visually associating, evoking or minutely symbolizing the incorporeal frame of an artist’s mind or of the wider social context. In other aspects, the artworks are richly and meticulously presented with regard to their importance and credibility as they, according to Krleža, possess an “ethical intelligence” and “ethical conscience”. Only Krleža’s prose is researched here, and this is done on two levels. We take a look at examples where real art is incorporated into fictional texts in order to determine the significance and meaning of a certain dialogue, mise-en-scène or situation. This is most commonly found in the author’s plays, novels and novellas. On the other hand, we can trace a completely opposite method by which artworks enter these texts, where, due to their historic determination and already established worth/status, they thus re-enter reality, as seen from the perspective of Krleža’s life and work, so as to yet again test art history’s credibility through the matrix of contemporaneity. This approach is most often found in Krleža’s essays, critiques and diary entries.

scholarly journals The Conflict Within the Cop21 Treaty: Catch-up Countries against Mature Economies

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Jan-erik Lane
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
The Other ◽  
Energy Transformation ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The One ◽  
First World

<p><em>The COP21 Agreement harbours a conflict between Third </em><em>w</em><em>orld and First world countries that has cropped up in tensions in all meetings by the UNFCCC. On the one hand, there is the catch-up set of countries—emerging economies—that have recently “taken off” economically and that will not accept a trade-off between economic development and environmental need of cutting emissions. On the other hand, there is the set of mature economies that grow sluggishly and have started to cut back on fossil fuels, especially coal. The first set of nations want the second set to pay for their gigantic energy transformation in a few decades—decarbonisation. The first set claimed that they had not created the big problem originally, and that fairness requires that the rich help the poor. At the COP21 summit, a deal was struck, worth 100 billion dollars per year to fund a Stern (2007) like Super Fund. But will it really be put in place and made operational?</em></p>

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