Overview
Examines the Histories of Trade that emerged during the 18th century as part of the histoire philosophique movement
Explores broader questions of eighteenth-century political economy, as expressed in these accounts
Offers new insights into the complex relationship between the production of wealth and civilization
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (10 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This edited collection explores the histories of trade, a peculiar literary genre that emerged in the context of the historiographical and cultural changes promoted by the histoire philosophique movement. It marked a discontinuity with erudition and antiquarianism, and interacted critically with universal history. By comparing and linking the histories of individual peoples within a common historical process, this genre enriched the reflection on civilisation that emerged during the long eighteenth century. Those who looked to the past wanted to understand the political constitutions and manners most appropriate to commerce, and grasp the recurring mechanisms underlying economic development. In this sense, histories of trade constituted a declination of eighteenth-century political economy, and thus became an invaluable analytical and practical tool for a galaxy of academic scholars, journalists, lawyers, administrators, diplomats and government ministers whose ambition was to reform the political, social and economic structure of their nations. Moreover, thanks to these investigations, a lucid awareness of historical temporality and, more particularly, the irrepressible precariousness of economic hegemonies, developed. However, as a field of tension in which multiple and even divergent intellectual sensibilities met, this literary genre also found space for critical assessments that focused on the ambivalence and dangers of commercial civilisation. Examining the complex relationship between the production of wealth and civilisation, this book provides unique insights for scholars of political economy, intellectual history and economic history.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Antonella Alimento is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Pisa, Italy. She specialises in European political and economic history and is Co-Editor (with Koen Stapelbroek) of The Politics of Commercial Treaties in the Eighteenth Century (Palgrave, 2017).
Aris Della Fontana is a doctoral student at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Histories of Trade as Histories of Civilisation
Editors: Antonella Alimento, Aris Della Fontana
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80087-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-80086-4Published: 17 December 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-80089-5Published: 18 December 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-80087-1Published: 16 December 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 362
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: History, general, Economic History, Historiography and Method, European History, Philosophy of History