The Political Economy of Sentiment: Paper Credit and the Scottish Enlightenment in Early Republic Boston, 1780-1820 (Financial History)

Situates changes in the nature of money and the rise of sophisticated financial structures at the centre of the Enlightenment. This work argues that paper credit instruments were causal - critical to the larger epistemological and psychological changes associated with the Enlightenment's reconstruction of value. This New Monograph Repositions The Financial Revolution At The Heart Of The Enlightenment Project. Jose R. Torre Argues That The Scottish Philosophers' Transference Of Value From Commodities To Signs Established An Economy Based On Human Imagination. This Radical Recalculation Of Value Opened The Door To A New Social Order Based On Emotions And Desires. It Undermined The Empiricist World View And Precipitated A Fundamental Shift In Human Psychology. Torre Focuses On Boston During The Early Years Of The American Republic: A Time Of Violent Social Flux. The Widespread Acceptance Of Paper Money Is A Unique Opportunity To Document The Role Of Nominal Economic Value In The Construction Of National Personality.--jacket. Introduction : Prometheus Unbound -- 1. 'things Without Him' : Locke And The Logic Of Metallism -- 2. Shaftesbury And Scottish Moral Sense Commercial Humanism : Inclinations Implanted In The Subject -- 3. American Money And Political Economy, 1780-1828 -- 4. Banking And Money In Boston -- 5. Likeness To God -- 6. The Luxury Of Pity -- 7. The Political Economy Of Beauty And The Imagination -- Conclusion : Sense Subordinated To The Mind. By Jose R. Torre. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 211-232) And Index.