Annual Lecture
Every year, the Utrecht Centre for Early Modern Studies organises a lecture by an internationally acclaimed scholar. The lecture is held in English and is aimed at a broad audience. Earlier speakers were researchers such as Sir Noel Malcolm, Prof. Tess Knighton Prof. Alec Ryrie and Prof. Linda Briggs.
Annual Lecture 2025
Richard Price’s Prudence and the Unintentional Invention of Modern Capitalist Values (1758-1790)
Speaker: Professor Jake Soll (University of Southern California)
15 May 2025
15:30-17:00h
Location: Alex Brenninkmeijerzaal, Johanna Hudiggebouw, Achter Sint Pieter 200.
Registration link for live attendance : https://forms.gle/meMhdYyM7SAhJUjG9
The talk can be followed online via this event link.
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.
The talk will be followed by drinks.
This talk is organized by UUCEMS in collaboration with the UU Descartes Center for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities
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