4 - The spectacle of the market
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 November 2009
Summary
It is evident then, that as I see nothing but what is far from being retired, in the forced retreat of an island, the thoughts being in no composure suitable to a retired condition, no, not for a great while; so I can affirm, that I enjoy much more solitude in the middle of the greatest collection of mankind in the world, I mean at London, while I am writing this, than ever I could say I enjoyed in eight and twenty years confinement to a desolate island.
Daniel Defoe, Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe (1719)Were it possible that a human creature could grow up to manhood in some solitary place, without any communication with his own species, he could no more think of his own character, of the propriety or demerit of his own sentiments and conduct, of the beauty or deformity of his own face. … Bring him into society, and he is immediately provided with the mirror which he wanted before. It is placed in the countenance and behaviour of those he lives with, which always mark when they enter into, and when they disapprove of his sentiments.
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)When john winthrop composed his famous lay sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity,” aboard the Arbella in 1630, he groped for an image to capture the keen sense of historical self-consciousness surrounding the journey of the Puritan settlers to Massachusetts. Though his gaze focused on the headland before him, his sermon looked back to those left behind.
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- Worlds ApartThe Market and the Theater in Anglo-American Thought, 1550–1750, pp. 149 - 194Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1986