Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T23:58:23.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adam Smith and Albert Einstein: The Aesthetic Principle of Truth*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

Elias L. Khalil
Elias L. Khalil
Affiliation:
New School for Social Research
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

I argue for an aesthetic criterion of truth through the explication of the epistemologies of Adam Smith and Albert Einstein–the progenitors of modern economics and physics [cf. Skinner, 1979:ch. 2; Holton, 1968, 1979]. The aesthetic criterion supersedes objectivist and relativist epistemologies.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , Fall 1989 , pp. 222 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arnheim, Rudolf (1974). Art and Visual Perception: The New Version. Berkeley: U. of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, J.F. (1961–2). “Adam Smith's Theory of Social Science.” Southern Economic Journal, 28:12–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J.J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Richard J. (1983). Beyond Objectivism and Relativism. Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Bitterman, H.J. (1940). “Adam Smith's Empiricism and the Law of Nature.” Journal of Political Economy, 48:482–520 & 703–37.Google Scholar
Boulding, Kenneth E. (1956). The Image. Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briggs, John, “Reflectaphors.” In Hiley, B.J. and Peat, F.D. (eds.) Quantum Implications: Essays in Honour of David Bohm. London: Routledge, 1987.Google Scholar
Bronowski, J. (1958). “The Creative Process.” Scientific America, Sept.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, T.D. (1971). Adam Smith's Science of Morals. Totowa, NJ: Rowman.Google Scholar
Cassirer, Ernst (1923). Substance and Function & Einstein Theory of Relativity, two books in one. Chicago: Open Court.Google Scholar
Chandrasekhar, S. (1987). Truth and Beauty: Aesthetics and Motivations in Science. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, Alan and Edward, Smith (eds.). (1988). Readings in Cognitive Science. San Manteo, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
Curtin, Deane W. (ed.) (1980). The Aesthetic Dimension of Science. New York: Philosophical Library.Google Scholar
Dukas, Helen and Banesh, Hoffman (1979). Albert Einstein: The Human Side. Princeton: Princeton U. Press.Google Scholar
Einstein, A. (1934). Essays in Science. New York: Philosophical Library.Google Scholar
Einstein, A. (1954). Ideas and Opinions. New York: Crown.Google Scholar
Feynman, R. (1965). The Character of Physical Law. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Foley, Vernard (1976). The Social Physics of Adam Smith. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue U. Press.Google Scholar
Gadamer, H. (1975). Truth and Method. New York: Seabury.Google Scholar
Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas (1971). The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmour, John C. (1983). “Art and the Expression of Meaning.” Process Studies, 13(1):71–87.Google Scholar
Gombrich, E.H. (1956). Art and Illusion. Princeton: Princeton U. Press.Google Scholar
Hanson, N. (1958). Patterns of Discovery. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.Google Scholar
Hargittai, I. (ed.). (1989). Symmetry, 2nd ed. New York: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Heelan, Patrick A. (1983). Space-Perception and the Philosophy of Science, Berkeley: U. of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holton, Gerald (1968). “Mach, Einstein, and the Search for Reality.” Daedalus, Spring, 97:636–673.Google Scholar
Holton, Gerald (1979). “Einstein's Model for Constructing a Scientific Theory.” In Aichelburg, P.C. and Sexl, R.V. (eds.) Albert Einstein. Braunschweig, West Germany: International Society of General Relativity and Gravitation.Google Scholar
Khalil, E.L. (1987). “Kuhn, Lakatos, and the History of Economic Thought.” International Journal of Social Economics, 08, 14(3–5):118–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khalil, E.L. (1990). “Adam Smith's Theory of Human Conduct.” Economics and Philosophy, 04, 6:1, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koestler, Arthur (1964). The Act of Creation. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Koffka, K. (1972). “Problems in the Psychology of Art.” In Art: A Bryn Mawr Symposium. New York: Oriole Editions.Google Scholar
Kohler, W. (1969). The Task of Gestalt Psychology. Princeton: Princeton U. Press.Google Scholar
Lindgren, Ralph J. (1973). The Social Philosophy of Adam Smith. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandelbrot, Benoit B. (1983). The Fractal Geometry of Nature. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marr, David (1982). Vision. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Miller, Arthur I. (1975). “Albert Einstein and Max Wertheimer.” History of Science, 13:75–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, Philip (1985). “Naturalness in Theoretical Physics.” American Scientist, 01–02, 73:60–67.Google Scholar
Penrose, Roger. (1974). “Role of Aesthetics in Pure and Applied Mathematical Research.” Bulletin of the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications, 10:266–271.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1971). Biology and Knowledge. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1972). The Principles of Genetic Epistemology. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Poincarè, Henri (1958). The Value of Science. New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Polanyi, Michael (1966). The Tacit Dimension. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Pribram, K.H.et al. (1974). “The Holographic Hypothesis of Memory Structure in Brain Function and Perception.” In Atkinson, R.C. (ed.) Contemporary Development in Mathematical Psychology. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Prigogine, Ilya (1980). From Being to Becoming. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Raphael, D.D. (1977). “The True Old Humean Philosophy and Its Influence on Adam Smith.” In Morice, G.P. (ed.) David Hume. Edinburgh: Edinburgh U. Press.Google Scholar
Schilpp, Paul A. (ed.) (1970). Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist. Open Court and LaSalle, IL: Northwestern and Southern Illinois U. Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Louis (1979). “Adam Smith on Human Nature and Social Circumstance.” In O'Driscoll, G.P. (ed.) Adam Smith and Modern Political Economy. Ames: Iowa State U. Press.Google Scholar
Skinner, Andrew (1979). A System of Social Science: Papers Relating to Adam Smith. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam (1976a). The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam (1976b). An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam(1980). Essays on Philosophical Subjects. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam (1983). Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Letters. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Thomson, H.F. (1965). “Adam Smith's Philosophy of Science,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolman, Edward C. (1948). “Cognitive Maps in Rats and Men.” The Psychological Review, 55(4):189–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wartofsky, Marx W. (1983). “From Genetic Epistemology to Historical Epistemology: Kant, Marx, and Piaget.” In Liben, Lynn S. (ed.) Piaget and the Foundations of Knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Wechsler, J. (ed.) (1978). On Aesthetics in Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wertheimer, Max (1959). Productive Thinking. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Weyl, Hermann (1952). Symmetry. Princeton: Princeton U. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zee, A. (1986). Fearful Symmetry: The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar