The Political Economy of Sentiment

"This new monograph repositions the financial revolution at the heart of the Enlightenment project. Jose R. Torre argues that the Scottish philosophers' transference of value from commodities to signs established an economy based on human imagination. This radical recalculation of value opened the door to a new social order based on emotions and desires. It undermined the empiricist world view and precipitated a fundamental shift in human psychology." "Torre focuses on Boston during the early years of the American Republic: a time of violent social flux. The widespread acceptance of paper money is a unique opportunity to document the role of nominal economic value in the construction of national personality."--Jacket.