Smith and Anti-Mathematicism
Smith and Anti-Mathematicism
This chapter argues that in general Adam Smith is distinctly reserved about the application of mathematics to political economy and even other terrestrial sciences. Smith endorses a so-called containment strategy—that is, he restricts the application of mathematics to a fairly limited domain of enquiry. Smith was not alone in such a containment strategy: we find instances of it in Locke, Buffon (whom he admired), and Mandeville. Such a containment strategy is part of a wider trend of eighteenth-century “anti-mathematicism,” the expressed reservations about the authority and utility of the application of mathematical sciences. By treating Smith as instantiating such anti-mathematicism, this chapter deviates from the recent tendency of arguing that Smith meant to emulate Isaac Newton.
Keywords: Adam Smith, Isaac Newton, anti-mathematicism, containment strategy, mathematics
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