Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Lecture 1 Commerce, Wealth and Power: The Disputed Foundations of the Strength of a Nation
- Lecture 2 Natural Order, Physiocracy and Reform
- Lecture 3 Adam Smith I: Outline of a Project
- Lecture 4 Adam Smith II: The Two Texts
- Lecture 5 The Political Economy of Malthus and Ricardo
- Lecture 6 Political Economy in Continental Europe and the United States
- Lecture 7 Political Economy, Philosophic Radicalism and John Stuart Mill
- Lecture 8 Popular Political Economy: List, Carey, Bastiat and George
- Lecture 9 Radical Political Economy: Marx and His Sources
- Lecture 10 Marginalism and Subjectivism: Jevons and Edgeworth
- Lecture 11 From Political Economy to Economics
- Lecture 12 Alfred Marshall’s Project
- Lecture 13 Markets and Welfare after Marshall
- Lecture 14 Monetary Economics
- Lecture 15 The Rise of Mathematical Economics
- Lecture 16 Robbins’s Essay and the Definition of Economics
- Lecture 17 John Maynard Keynes
- Lecture 18 Quantitative Economics
- Lecture 19 The Keynesian Revolution
- Lecture 20 Modern Macroeconomics
- Lecture 21 Inflation and the Phillips Curve
- Lecture 22 Popular Economics
- Lecture 23 Economics and Policy
- Lecture 24 Ideology and Place
- Index
Lecture 4 - Adam Smith II: The Two Texts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Lecture 1 Commerce, Wealth and Power: The Disputed Foundations of the Strength of a Nation
- Lecture 2 Natural Order, Physiocracy and Reform
- Lecture 3 Adam Smith I: Outline of a Project
- Lecture 4 Adam Smith II: The Two Texts
- Lecture 5 The Political Economy of Malthus and Ricardo
- Lecture 6 Political Economy in Continental Europe and the United States
- Lecture 7 Political Economy, Philosophic Radicalism and John Stuart Mill
- Lecture 8 Popular Political Economy: List, Carey, Bastiat and George
- Lecture 9 Radical Political Economy: Marx and His Sources
- Lecture 10 Marginalism and Subjectivism: Jevons and Edgeworth
- Lecture 11 From Political Economy to Economics
- Lecture 12 Alfred Marshall’s Project
- Lecture 13 Markets and Welfare after Marshall
- Lecture 14 Monetary Economics
- Lecture 15 The Rise of Mathematical Economics
- Lecture 16 Robbins’s Essay and the Definition of Economics
- Lecture 17 John Maynard Keynes
- Lecture 18 Quantitative Economics
- Lecture 19 The Keynesian Revolution
- Lecture 20 Modern Macroeconomics
- Lecture 21 Inflation and the Phillips Curve
- Lecture 22 Popular Economics
- Lecture 23 Economics and Policy
- Lecture 24 Ideology and Place
- Index
Summary
Aims of the lecture
1. To provide an overview of Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations.
2. To provide in the treatment of Wealth of Nations a model for the reading of complex texts.
3. To shift attention in this way from what Smith “really meant” to what he “actually wrote”.
Bibliography
In the publication history of Wealth of Nations there are many conspectuses, abbreviated versions and summaries, beginning with Jeremiah Joyce’s A Complete Analysis or Abridgement of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1797), which went through three editions by 1821 and was republished in an Oxford edition in 1877 and 1880. Robert Heilbroner’s The Essential Adam Smith (1986) is a useful modern compendium. Jerry Evensky has published two overviews: Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy (2005), summarizing Smith’s “moral philosophical vision” (and not directly Theory of Moral Sentiments) in Part I and Wealth of Nations in Part II (the summary of modern economists’ perceptions of Smith in Part III is of no interest here). Evensky has also published Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: A Reader’s Guide (2015), but it is marred by the use of inappropriate modern economic preconceptions and terminology.
There is, however, no substitute for reading Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, preferably in the Glasgow edition since you will then have access to a full editorial apparatus if you should need it. Just skimming these works will give you a clearer idea of their structure and argument than can be gleaned from most of the commentary.
For Theory of Moral Sentiments, useful orientation based on a close reading can be found in Terry Peach, “Adam Smith’s ‘Optimistic Deism,’ the Invisible Hand of Providence, and the Unhappiness of Nations”, History of Political Economy 46 (2014), 55–83.
For Wealth of Nations, Keith Tribe, “Reading ‘Trade’ in the Wealth of Nations”, Economy of the Word, chapter 4 explicitly sets out to provide a close reading of exactly where and what Smith writes about trade, rather than compare some things he wrote with some things others have since written.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The History of EconomicsA Course for Students and Teachers, pp. 49 - 76Publisher: Agenda PublishingPrint publication year: 2017