An Utterly Incomplete Look at Research from 1825

Summary

This series looks at research from years past. I survey a handful of books and articles in a particular year from math, economics, philosophy, international relations, and other interesting topics. This project was inspired by my retrospective on Foreign Affairs' first issue from September 1922. A persistent theme throughout the 1820s is the tension between Enlightenment ideals and conservative reaction. The books and articles discussed below capture various facets of this conflict. William Hazlitt’s collection of essays examines intellectuals from the turn of the century, many of whom became swept up in the Romantic movement and adopted illiberal views. J. C. L. de Sismondi’s survey characterizes international relations in the first quarter of the nineteenth century as a struggle between the forces of liberty and tyranny and is optimistic for the former. Liberal ideas were advancing steadily in education, as seen in Henry Brougham’s pamphlet on Mechanics’ Institutes and adult education and the plans to found additional universities in England outside of Oxford and Cambridge. The Harbour of Dieppe (1825)by Joseph Turner Of the bunch below, I most enjoyed Samuel Bailey’s On the Nature, Measures, and Causes of Value and The Philosopher in the Kitchen by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. The former proffers a subjective theory of value that is far ahead of its time both in content and style, and the latter is a time-capsule of French culture through a treatise on gastronomy. There are several books I didn’t get to but are otherwise interesting and important. Appeal of One Half of the Human Race by William Thompson critiques the position of women in society and takes issue with fellow liberal James Mill’s claim in his Essay on Government that women need not be extended political rights. I discuss the preface below. Thomas Hodgskin’s pamphlet Labour Defended Against the Claims of Capital argues that labor is the source of all value and is, thereby, undercompensated. John Ra...