Agenda
UUCEMS Lecture 2025 by Professor Jake Soll – ‘Richard Price’s Prudence and the Unintentional Invention of Modern Capitalist Values’
On 15 May 2025, the Utrecht University Centre for Early Modern Studies (UUCEMS), in cooperation with Utrecht University’s Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities organises its annual lecture. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Professor Jake Soll (University of Southern California) and is titled ‘Richard Price’s Prudence and the Unintentional Invention of Modern Capitalist Values (1758-1790)’.
Historians have typically traced 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 — Professor Soll’s 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 to balance greed and finance with accounting and probabilistic prudence, Richard Price helped build essential elements that would support the rise of financial capitalism.
Attendance is free of charge, but prior registration is required; visit the lecture webpage via the button below for more info and the registration form.
