Commercial sociability and the management of self-interest in Isaac de Pinto's letter on card-playing

Stapelbroek, Koen

Abstract

One way of engaging with self-interest and the theme of commercial sociability is through the eighteenth-century fashion of card-playing. Isaac de Pinto, the Amsterdam financier and political writer, defended the practice of credit and state debts that was part of his vision of international peace to take the sting out of “Jealousy of Trade.” He also wrote short texts in which he analyzed commercial sociability. In his essay on luxury, he theorized how individuals valued objects and how value in society could be consolidated or destroyed. Likewise, in his often-overlooked letter on card-playing, addressed to Diderot, he distinguished between the virtues of ancient and modern politics and defended card-playing as a moral interface in which people could learn to direct and guide their self-interest in such a way that they could be successful in the marketplace.

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Publication Name

Historicizing Self-Interest in the Modern Atlantic World

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ISBN/ISSN

9781003022749

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Publisher

Routledge

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Publisher Location

London, UK

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DOI

10.4324/9781003022749-5