Economics
Economics
This chapter discusses Enlightenment philosophers' defense of commercial society and free trade. They defended the new commercial society because they believed it represented a better society — better morally, in the triple sense of being more just and tending toward greater liberty as well as equality; better economically, in the sense of producing more wealth and higher living standards; and better in terms of its beneficial spillover effects. The ultimate moral argument behind the multiple Enlightenment campaigns for free trade is that — commerce not only civilizes people, “operating to cordialize mankind”; if universalized, it will eventually “extirpate the system of war” and bring world peace.
Keywords: Enlightenment philosophers, commercial society, Kant, Smith, international trade, free trade
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
