The Birth of Economic Rhetoric

“I share with the author the conviction that Smith’s interest for and theories of rhetoric and language need to be re-assessed to better understand his political economy, and more generally his system of thought. This book has important insights to offer on Smith’s views on rhetoric and language and also on Hume and Smith’s economics”– Benoît Walraevens, Professor of Experimental and Behavioural Economics, UNSW Business School, Australia.
This book explores and compares the works of two great economists and philosophers, David Hume and Adam Smith, considering their contributions to language, perception, sympathy, reason, art and theatre to find a general theory of rationality and economics. The author considers and analyses both figures through a range of approaches, and moves on to demonstrate how different concepts of language affect Hume's and Smith's idea of value and economic growth. This book contributes to a wider literature on communicationand language to demonstrate that economics is linked to rhetoric and is an essential part of human nature.