New Essays on Adam Smith's Moral Philosophy
Rochester, New York: RIT Press, 2012. Trade Paperback. Fine. Item #2327692
ISBN: 9781933360638
Still in original plastic wrap.
254 pp. Adam Smith (1723 to 1790) was a Scottish philosopher who, with his good friend David Hume, can be ranked as the most famous of the 18th century Scottish Enlightenment philosophers. He is most well-known for his 1776 book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, perhaps the first modern work of economics; it was an instant success. Less successful, but just as important, was Smiths earlier book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, first published in 1759; it underwent five revisions, the last appearing in 1790. A key idea of Smiths moral philosophy was the notion of sympathy (or what we today would call empathy), which allows us to understand anothers point of view our fellow-feeling with any passion whatever when we imaginatively put ourselves into the shoes of another. The essays in this volume give us a better understanding of the complexities and subtleties of Smiths thought about matters of morality and about his relations with his friend David Hume, from whom he drew much of his moral theory. The essays discuss the historical context of Smiths life in 18th century Scotland; investigate the Adam Smith Problem concerning the issue of consistency or lack of consistency between The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations; elaborate on the moral issues in commercial society and the role of resentment (one of the unsocial passions ) in Smiths account of morality; and discuss how Humes death may have affected Smiths philosophy. Earlier versions of the papers in this volume were presented at a three day conference, Adam Smiths The Theory of Moral Sentiments , at Rochester Institute of Technology in May 2006.
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