The Nordic Summer University is committed to new developments in academic thought and practice. In this inaugural volume of Summertalk, NSU is proud to present the 2006 keynote lectures in print. The book offers a condensed tour de force through the major ethical theories of the twentieth century. In three historical chapters, beginning with Sidgwick and Nietzsche and ending with a response to the emergence of applied ethics, Sergio Cremaschi gives a unique overview of contemporary concerns about normative thinking under plural reasons.

Adam Smith’s contribution to economics is well-recognized but in recent years scholars have been exploring anew the multidisciplinary nature of his works. The Adam Smith Review is a refereed annual review that provides a unique forum for interdisciplinary debate on all aspects of Adam Smith’s works, his place in history, and the significance of his writings to the modern world. It is aimed at facilitating debate between scholars working across the humanities and social sciences, thus emulating the reach of the Enlightenment world which Smith helped to shape. The sixth volume of the series contains contributions from specialists across a range of disciplines, including Vivienne Brown, Maria Alejandra Carrasco, Douglas J. Den Uyl, John Elster, Niall Ferguson, Samuel Fleischacker, Christel Fricke, Lisa Hill, Duncan Kelly, Karl Ove Moene, John O’Neill, Maria Pia Paganelli, Alessandro Roncaglia, Carola Freiin von Villiez, and Jonathan B. Wight. Topics examined include: Smith and the conditions of a moral society The fate of Anglo-American capitalism Smith and Shaftesbury

Adam Smith’s contribution to economics is well recognised, but scholars have recently been exploring anew the multidisciplinary nature of his works. The Adam Smith Review is a rigorously refereed annual review that provides a unique forum for interdisciplinary debate on all aspects of Adam Smith’s works, his place in history, and the significance of his writings to the modern world. It is aimed at facilitating debate between scholars working across the humanities and social sciences, thus emulating the reach of the Enlightenment world which Smith helped to shape. This tenth volume brings together leading scholars from across several disciplines, and offers a particular focus on Smith's continuing impact on the history of economics. There is also an emphasis throughout the volume on the relationship between Smith’s work and that of other key thinkers.

There is no education that can avoid being political. Still, the question is, in what sense is education political, and if all education must be political, to what extent politics must be made the explicit telos of the formation and upbringing, and how the relation might be between the principles needed for education and those of the political sphere. Today, after the successive collapses of the modern models of good society - first realized socialism and then neo-liberal market society - the question is, what should the standards be for education and, especially, what the relation should be between these standards and politics. Do we for instance have to raise human beings to become citizens of a civic republic, a world society, or a league of nations? Can education limit itself to local concerns or must it transcend the limits to become international, transnational, or even global? Should we educate to a global social democracy? This book examines these questions. (Series: Philosophy of Education - Vol. 2)

Economics has developed into one of the most specialised social sciences. Yet at the same time, it shares its subject matter with other social sciences and humanities and its method of analysis has developed in close correspondence with the natural and life sciences. This book offers an up to date assessment of economics in relation to other disciplines. This edited collection explores fields as diverse as mathematics, physics, biology, medicine, sociology, architecture, and literature, drawing from selected contributions to the 2005 Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET). There is currently much discussion at the leading edges of modern economics about openness to other disciplines, such as psychology and sociology. But what we see here is that economics has drawn on (as well as contributed to) other disciplines throughout its history. In this sense, in spite of the increasing specialisation within all disciplines, economics has always been an open discipline and the chapters in this volume provide a vivid illustration for this. Open Economics is a testament to the intellectual vibrancy of historical research in economics. It presents the reader with a historical introduction to the disciplinary context of economics that is the first of its kind, and will appeal to practising economists and students of the discipline alike, as well as to anybody interested in economics and its position in the scientific and social scientific landscape.

Adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the distinction between public and private, this lucidly written book covers an interesting and eclectic mix of topics such as citizenship, Rorty, Arendt and marriage.

Dale Dorsey considers one of the most important questions in philosophical ethics: to what extent do the demands of morality have authority over us and our lives? He defends a position that runs counter to the traditional view, and argues that we are not required to conform to moral demands. Furthermore, doing so can be (quite literally) wrong.