programme at odds with more sentimental vision of agrarian Wollstonecraft’s domesticity; her support for Physiocracy thus points to a desire to turn the argument about liberalized trade in her direction, as well as illustrating the fluidity of contemporary debate on such matters. By ending her philosophical history with an engagement with Smith, Wollstonecraft appears to recognize that the economic future is increasingly at odds with the bucolic agrarianism expressed in the few moments of lyrical reverie in her text. Unlike a figure such as Paine, who praised commerce as greatest approach “the towards universal civilization that has yet been made by any means not immediately flowing from moral Part Two, 82), her conclusion also Rights, principles” (Paine, indicates the difficulties of integrating economic improvement, as envisaged by Smithian political economy, into philosophical narrative of human progress. history’s According to Scottish philosophical historians, commerce brings improvement in manners, knowledge and hence liberty, but, as Smith himself was aware, the division of labor, a keystone of the fully-articulated capitalist system of economic production, threatened the well-being and of the workers by reducing their “improvement” leisure and hence opportunity for education. innovation thus threatens the Smith’s place of commerce in the virtuous cycle of enlightenment, and the very narrative of enlightened improvement is threatened. recognition of this prompts his Burke’s comparison, in in the context of his denouncement of the National Reflections, attack on monastic property, of the life of the monk and that of the Assembly’s to work to dusk in servile, degrading, “many wretches” doomed “from dawn … unseemly, unmanly, and often most unwholesome and for pestiferous occupations”; Burke, the of such trades and is a finely balanced “toleration employments” capitulation to the needs of wealth distribution (271). In this light, the economic basis
programme at odds with Wollstonecraft’s more sentimental vision of agrarian domesticity; her support for Physiocracy thus points to a desire to turn the argument about liberalized trade in her direction, as well as illustrating the fluidity of contemporary debate on such matters. By ending her philosophical history with an engagement with Smith, Wollstonecraft appears to recognize that the economic future is increasingly at odds with the bucolic agrarianism expressed in the few moments of lyrical reverie in her text. Unlike a figure such as Paine, who praised commerce as “the greatest approach towards universal civilization that has yet been made by any means not immediately flowing from moral principles” (Paine, Rights, Part Two, 82), her conclusion also indicates the difficulties of integrating economic improvement, as envisaged by Smithian political economy, into philosophical history’s narrative of human progress. According to Scottish philosophical historians, commerce brings improvement in manners, knowledge and hence liberty, but, as Smith himself was aware, the division of labor, a keystone of the fully-articulated capitalist system of economic production, threatened the well-being and “improvement” of the workers by reducing their leisure and hence opportunity for education. Smith’s innovation thus threatens the place of commerce in the virtuous cycle of enlightenment, and the very narrative of enlightened improvement is threatened. Burke’s recognition of this prompts his comparison, in Reflections, in the context of his denouncement of the National Assembly’s attack on monastic property, of the life of the monk and that of the “many wretches” doomed to work “from dawn to dusk in … servile, degrading, unseemly, unmanly, and often most unwholesome and pestiferous occupations”; for Burke, the “toleration of such trades and employments” is a finely balanced capitulation to the needs of wealth distribution (271). In this light, the economic basis
ERR256_Packham%20Editing%20in%20Progress.docx