Schliesser, Eric (2009) From Adam Smith to Darwin; some neglected evidence. [Preprint]
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Abstract
In this paper I call attention to Adam Smith’s “Considerations Concerning the First Formation of Languages” in order to facilitate understanding Adam Smith from a Darwinian perspective. By ‘Darwinian’ I mean a position that explains differential selection over time through natural mechanisms. First, I argue that right near the start of Wealth of Nations Smith signals that human nature has probably evolved over a very long amount of time. Second, I connect this evidence with an infamous passage on infanticide in The Theory of Moral Sentiments in order to argue that Smith is committed to group selection. Third, I argue that in Dissertation on Languages one can find building blocks for the claim that mind and language co-develop over time. More controversially I claim that in TMS there is a distinction between natural sentiments and moral sentiments. Natural sentiments are evolved (presumably through cultural selection) and moral sentiments are developed (through acculturation within society). Along the way, I argue that this distinction would have improved Darwin’s Descent of Man by blocking a move toward eugenics.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Adam Smith, Darwin, Descent of Man, Eugenics, Moral Sentiments, Languages | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > History of Science Case Studies |
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| Depositing User: | Eric Schliesser | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jul 2009 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 07 Oct 2010 15:18 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 4779 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > History of Science Case Studies |
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| Date: | July 2009 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4779 |
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