Yes, he was always extremely close to her. All you can know about a book without reading it: the Moral Markets bookshelf. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised … 5 His closest friend for most of his adult life was the great philosopher, David Hume, and their relationship is the subject of my book, The Infidel and the Professor. It helps people to follow moral norms, to regard them as sacred, whereas Hume sees it as mostly pernicious, morally speaking. 4 To me, it’s a strikingly modern moral theory in that it doesn’t—like many moral theories of Smith’s time—rely on God or principles written into the fabric of the cosmos. Fleischacker says Adam Smith is a very good writer, very funny. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount. Emma Rothschild started off with an article called ‘Adam Smith and Conservative Economics’ but then built that into her book called Economic Sentiments, which came out a couple of years before Fleischacker’s book. I’m guessing there’s some kind of connection there. Looking for books by Adam Smith? Smith also just seemed temperamentally disposed to being more circumspect than Hume. They were very popular in the Reagan White House, as I understand it. I was going to start by asking who Adam Smith was, but the title page of one of his books, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, says very clearly that he was a ‘Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow.’ What else? If you live in a commercial society, you live by exchanging with others, so you depend a great deal on your reputation. by Jerry Muller I guess there are times in The Wealth of Nations when he does take that posture. So, at least as I read him, Smith provides a kind of historical and comparative cost-benefit analysis, and concludes that, despite its very real problems, commercial society’s overall balance sheet remains preferable to other societies. So, actions and character traits that would earn an impartial spectator’s approval are morally right, according to Smith, and those that would earn such a spectator’s disapproval are morally wrong. Let’s talk, then, about Adam Smith’s greatest work, The Wealth of Nations. Hume, in some of his essays, had argued for free trade a couple of decades before The Wealth of Nations was published. First extract, Book A, INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK, page xxiv: “The abundance or scantiness of this supply too seems to depend more on the former of those two circumstances than upon the latter. Throughout, Smith treats morality as an eminently practical, human phenomenon, rather than one based on any kind of sacred, mysterious, or other worldly authority. The more free trade you have, the fewer restrictions there are available for the merchants to extort from the legislature. Smith did publish one other work under his own name during his lifetime, in addition to the two books, which I find to be particularly beautiful and revealing, even if short. Yes, that’s right. That’s right. Books on the Work of Adam Smith. The Essential Adam Smith But the main purpose of this book is to introduce you to Adam Smith himself. The courses he taught covered ethics, as we would now call it, jurisprudence, some aspects of religion, and political economy. Adam Smith (1723–90) is perhaps best known as one of the first champions of the free market and is widely regarded as the founding father of capitalism. But certainly he’s writing in a world where trade is far more restricted than it is now. Adam Smith was an 18th-century Scottish economist, philosopher, and author, and is considered the father of modern economics. Who is Adam Smith? After which, to the great amusement of posterity, he worked for a number of years as a customs officer. 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