Adam Smith

Samuel Fleischacker

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781351848206
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Economics
• Thema: Economic History

Adam Smith (1723–1790) is widely regarded as one of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment period. Best-known for his founding work of economics, The Wealth of Nations, Smith engaged equally with the nature of morality in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. He also gave lectures on literature and jurisprudence, and wrote papers on art and science.

In this outstanding philosophical introduction Samuel Fleischacker argues that Smith is a superb example of the broadly curious thinkers who flourished in the Enlightenment—for whom morality, politics, law, and economics were just a few of the many fascinating subjects that could be illuminated by naturalistic modes of investigation.

After a helpful overview of his life and work, Fleischacker examines the full range of Smith's thought, on such subjects as:

• 
  
  

• epistemology, philosophy of science, and aesthetics
• the nature of sympathy
• moral approval and moral judgement
• virtue
• religion
• justice and jurisprudence
• governmental policy
• economic principles
• liberalism.

Including chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary, Adam Smith is essential reading for those studying ethics, political philosophy, the history of philosophy, and the Enlightenment, as well as those reading Smith in related disciplines such as economics, law, and religion.

Index

Note: Page numbers followed by “n” denote endnotes.

• a priori 36, 40, 63, 139, 150, 158n29, 170, 234, 239, 308, 325, 327
• aboriginal tribes 127, 132n31, 246n36, 289 see also hunter-gatherers
• Abramson, Kate 96n19, 131n16
• absurdity 20, 30, 41–2, 49, 59n15, 70, 96n15, 107, 151, 194, 197, 209n49, 312
• aesthetic(s) xiv, 29, 33, 59n20, 60, 111, 174n4, 323n32, 325, 330
  • connection with knowledge 45, 57
  • judgments 126, 152
  • virtues 119 see also science taste
• Africa 36, 126–7, 169, 246, 276
• afterlife 27n48, 179–180, 194, 208n42
• agents 34, 59, 65, 100, 106, 114, 116, 123, 128–9, 164, 261
  • economic 7, 43
  • intentions of 114, 128, 284, 289
  • interests of 116, 172, 257–8
  • private 311
  • virtuous 135–6, 164, 172, 174n11
• agnosticism 19–20, 182, 191, 201, 318 see also atheism
• agriculture 7,...