History of Languages for Specific Purposes

It is often said that languages for specific purposes (also named special languages or technolects) are the product of a division of labor. Although this concept was introduced only as late as 1776 (by Adam Smith, in An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations), the idea that professions or occupations of all kind are characterized by a particular vocabulary that is not understood by all native speakers was already manifest in the writings of medieval scholars (for instance, in Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia). In the Middle Ages most Romance languages conquered a more or less wide range of domains. The question arose whether they were also appropriate to serve as a medium of scholarship. The disciplines taught at the universities (arts, theology, law, medicine) had a strong Latin tradition; their knowledge was popularized by means of translations, which enriched the vocabulary and the syntactic flexibility of the emerging languages. Thus, the translators—sometimes organized in “schools”—contributed to the elaboration of the target languages and to their emancipation from Latin. Aside from the septem artes liberales, however, a second group of (seven) disciplines without Latin roots (called artes mechanicae) established and introduced mainly native vocabulary typical of the respective occupational fields. During the first centuries of modern times, more and more scholars felt that their mother tongue should take the place of Latin as a means of propagating scholarship and new findings. In the 17th and 18th centuries, French held the lead among the modern languages in nearly all fields of knowledge; it maintained its dominant position among the Romance languages until the second half of the 20th century. On a global level, German was a strong rival in the humanities and several scientific disciplines in the 19th century; for many decades, however, English has been the universal medium of communication in the scientific community. This process has given rise to many discussions about language planning measures to be taken in order to curtail the Anglo-American supremacy. Before the 18th century, special languages did not have a strong impact on the physiognomy of developed languages. In the sphere of academic disciplines, translations of canonical Latin texts entailed a general re-Latinization and, as a consequence, a process of convergence of the Romance languages. The technical languages of trade and artisanry were highly fragmented so that their special vocabulary was used and understood only in limited geographical areas. In the Age of Enlightenment, the growing prestige of experts, on the one hand, and philosophical considerations about the optimization of language(s), on the other hand, led to increasing harmonization efforts on national and supranational levels. Organizations were founded with the purpose of creating and standardizing terminologies for various kinds of subjects (technical products, medicine, etc.). Special languages, far from being homogeneous varieties, are differentiated vertically. Linguists use to distinguish between three levels of communication: specialists inter se (e.g., physician—physician), specialist—skilled worker (physician—nurse), and specialist—layman (physician—patient). Studying how technical terms seep into common language and what changes they undergo during this process is a great challenge for linguists.

O IMPACTO DA COMPLEXIDADE TRIBUTÁRIA E DOS PARCELAMENTOS ESPECIAIS NA TOMADA DE DECISÃO DA (DES)OBEDIÊNCIA TRIBUTÁRIA DAS EMPRESAS BRASILEIRAS LISTADAS NA B3: UM ESTUDO SOB A ÓTICA DA TEORIA DOS JOGOS

Em sua obra “Riqueza das Nações, de 1776”, Adam Smith (1985) esclarece que um sistema tributário eficiente deve ser neutro, justo e simples. Neutro, porque os tributos não podem afetar a economia, desincentivando-a ou desiquilibrando a concorrência natural do mercado. Justo, porque todos devem pagar os tributos de acordo com a sua capacidade contributiva, ou seja, deve ser equitativo. E simples, porque os contribuintes não podem ter dúvidas em seus recolhimentos. Nas palavras de Smith (1985, p. 248), “a data do recolhimento, a forma de recolhimento e a soma a pagar devem ser claras e evidentes para o contribuinte e para qualquer outra pessoa”. Para o autor, a complexidade da tributação estimula ao não pagamento dos tributos devidos.

Does Friendship Stem from Altruism? Adam Smith and the Distinction between Love-based and Interest-based Preferences

Forthcoming in "Journal of the history of economic thought" in 2003 or 2004 Abstract: Friendship-and-love expresses musings about wellbeing—while “wellbeing” is the economist’s substantive satisfaction. Insofar as altruism is about wellbeing, it must differ from friendship-and-love. However, what is the basis of the difference between substantive satisfaction and friendship-and-love? The answer can be found in Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, chapter 2: how “mutual sympathy” differs from “sympathy.” Smith scholars generally miss the uniqueness of “mutual sympathy” and, indeed, fold it under Smith’s “sympathy” (and “empathy”)—with one exception. Robert Sugden highlights the uniqueness of mutual sympathy. However, he goes to the other end, i.e., folds it under Smith’s sympathy-and-empathy”. This paper aims to avoid the folding in either direction. While mutual sympathy originates love-based sociality (friendship-and-love), sympathy-and-empathy originates interest-based sociality (wellbeing that includes altruism). This paper concludes that friendship is neither reducible to altruism nor vice versa. Further, this paper distinguishes this problem from the question regarding the socialization of the individual.

Development and Formation History of Profit Taxation

Research relevance determined by the importance of tax regulation, which allows the state to concentrate its financial resources, with the ability to significantly influence the economic development of the country at every stage of its development. The article examines the processes and stages of the emergence and evolution of theses on the essence of taxation. Research objectives: analysis of the main and fundamental tax theories, as well as tax systems of ancient states. Research materials and methods: analysis of the history of formation, development, evolution of one of the initial forms of taxation — payment (tax) from the people. Also considered the legal content and the economic content of the tax. Research results: the basic principles of taxation are considered on the basis of the definitions of Adam Smith, who established the basic principles of taxation, which exist and operate to this day. An assessment and comparison of taxation in Kyrgyzstan with other countries is given. Conclusions: a decrease in the tax rate will entail an increase in production, which in the future will compensate for a temporary decrease in tax revenues.

Dinámica de sistemas y crecimiento económico

Este artículo muestra que la teoría económica se puede analizar mediante la dinámica de sistemas, un enfoque intuitivo que permite representar en forma gráfica los lazos de retroalimentación entre las variables que intervienen en los modelos. En particular, modela la visión del crecimiento de Adam Smith, según la interpretación muy simplificada de Robert Heilbroner, (desarrollada en foma más integral y exhaustiva por su maestro, el sociólogo y economista alemán Adolph Lowe) proponiendo un sistema computacional para el estudio de modelos complejos. El trabajo no pretende hacer un aporte original a la modelación económica sino mostrar una herramienta que permite hacer simulaciones con base en los principios de la dinámica de sistemas, utilizando software especializado; una herramienta que se puede utilizar en la enseñanza para mostrar opciones de modelación alternativas a las convencionales.

Teorías clásicas del comercio internacional y sus antecedentes: de Aristóteles a Rybczynski

En un contexto internacional como el actual, en el que las pulsiones proteccionistas vuelven a campar a sus anchas, resulta conveniente realizar una mirada retrospectiva hacia aquellas teorías económicas que propugnan una mayor liberalización comercial como modelo de crecimiento económico. Desde los economistas clásicos y sus antecesores (Adam Smith y David Ricardo, entre otros); hasta los modelos planteados en el siglo XX (Heckscher-Ohlin o Stolper-Samuelson), pasando por ciertos defensores del proteccionismo; en este artículo se pretenden analizar los beneficios derivados de la actividad comercial enunciados por las diversas teorías en aras de proceder a su incorporación en las decisiones de política económica y, más concretamente, en la política comercial -tanto hacia el interior, como hacia el exterior- ejecutada por los distintos países o bloques comerciales.