LECTURE: Jake SOLL, Richard Price’s Prudence and the Unintentional Invention of Modern Capitalist Values (1758-1790) [UUCEMS Annual Lecture] (Utrecht: Alex Benninkmeijerzaal, 15 MAY 2025)

 

(image source: Werkgroep 18e Eeuw)

Abstract:

Historians have typically traced a the tradition of Machiavellian Classical Republicanism as a political and moral movement opposed to commercial values.  While recent research has shown pro-commercial strains of republicanism—in the Dutch Republic for example—my presentation will show a more complex relationship between republican ideas of liberty and capitalist traditions.  The example of Richard Price shows a remarkable attempt to use capitalism to create an innovative form of prudence to mitigate the dangers of finance and complex trade.  Paradoxically, by trying balance greed and finance with anccounting and probabilistic prudence, Richard Price helped build essential elements that would support the rise of financial capitalism.

This talk is organized by UUCEMS in collaboration with the Descartes Centre.

More information here. 

BOOK: Leos MÜLLER, Neutrality in World History (London: Routledge, 2019). ISBN: 9781138745384, pp. 188, £ 27.99 (paperback)

(Source: Routledge)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Neutrality in World History provides a cogent synthesis of five hundred years of neutrality in global history. Author Leos Müller argues that neutrality and neutral states, such as Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, have played an important historical role in implementing the free trade paradigm, shaping the laws of nations and humanitarianism, and serving as key global centres of trade and finance. Offering an intriguing alternative to dominant world history narratives, which hinge primarily on the international relations and policies of empires and global powers, Neutrality in World History provides students with a distinctive introduction to neutrality’s place in world history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leos Müller is Professor of History and Head of the Centre for Maritime Studies at Stockholm University.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Neutrality?

Chapter 2: Birth of Maritime Neutrality: 1500–1650

Chapter 3: Neutrality at Sea: 1650–1815

Chapter 4: The Golden Age of Neutrality: 1814–1914

Chapter 5: Neutrality in Trouble: 1914–2016

Concluding Remarks: Neutrality in the Past, Present and Future

More information with the publisher.