The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas (Enterprise) [Paperback]

James Buchan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2007 | Series: Enterprise

Celebrated author James Buchan on the widely known—but often misread—Scottish philosopher Adam Smith.

Adam Smith (1723-1790) has been adopted by neoconservatives as the ideological father of unregulated business and small government. His "invisible hand" has become a commanding shorthand for politicians promoting laissez-faire economics, but Smith never used it in reference to free-market capitalism. Smith was a deeply moral man who considered himself a philosopher, not an economist. Drawing on twenty-five years of research, James Buchan renders an Adam Smith untainted by political and economic interests. This compelling narrative uncovers Smith's passionate commitment to develop an ethical theory essential to his vision of a just commercial society.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this thorough, encyclopedic study, Buchan goes beyond the modern myth of Adam Smith-father of the laissez-faire approach to free markets and champion of small government-to find a more nuanced view, one that supercedes the narrow views of contemporary disciples such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Taking the reader deep into Smith's works and beliefs, Buchan produces a thinker as often concerned with philosophy and aesthetics as with economics and finance, a man of immense gifts, nearly unlimited potential, and unrestrained drive who, although he achieved much, "meant to have done more." Smith died at 67 the author of perhaps the first great work of modern economics (The Wealth of Nations), but still hoping to complete treatises on the visual and performing arts and to revisit his first major book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Buchan clearly knows his subject, as his treatment is detailed and backed up with ample endnotes, and this volume will be of great interest to specialists or those with a strong background in Smith's work. However, the book takes a rather flat approach to its subject, moving evenly and predictably from beginning to end, without any effort at dramatic tension or narrative energy.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In the slipstream of Buchan's history of the eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment (Crowded with Genius, 2003) comes this -biography-in-brief of the author of The Wealth of Nations. Buchan acknowledges scholarly bachelor Adam Smith has not impressed previous writers as leading a greatly exciting life, but he avers that Smith's intellectual world has its own drama to tell. Contrasting the modern conception of Smith as the founder of free-market economics, Buchan explains that Smith thought of himself as a moral philosopher: his breakout book was titled The Theory of Moral Sentiments. A teacher prominent in the Scottish Enlightenment, Francis Hutcheson, who thought moral sensibilities were better investigated in their historical, societal dimensions rather than their religious ones, profoundly influenced Smith. Amid the coursings of Smith's intellect, Buchan tracks his socializing with the fellow high-minded, such as David Hume, who liked Smith, and Samuel Johnson, who didn't. Rescuing Smith from his incarnation as a political mascot, Buchan takes a more nuanced approach to his life and work in this efficient portrait. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Atlas (August 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393329941
• ISBN-13: 978-0393329940
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,083,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent clarification on Adam Smith capitalism. It is not what you think., September 9, 2006

By 

Gaetan Lion - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas (Enterprise) (Hardcover)

This is a most readable and excellent book. From an academic standpoint, it has several merits.

The book's first merit is that it serves as a very good abstract of Adam Smith's lengthy and difficult tomes [Wealth of Nations in 1776 and The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759]. By today's standards, these books are unreadable. Buchan has painstakingly studied these books and pass on their information in a fresh, lively, and modern language. It should be required reading for any introduction to economics course.

Its second merit is that it clarifies Adam Smith's economic thoughts. Most everyone, included leading contemporary economists, consider Smith the intellectual father of free-wheeling capitalism, globalization, and free-trade. They lean on Smith to give themselves undisputable arguments. If one's thoughts are aligned with Smith, they become unquestionable. So the logic goes. But, even the majority of economics PhDs have not read Wealth of Nations and close to none have read Moral Sentiments. Over the centuries, the interpretation of Smith's work has veered increasingly to the right and into a libertarian domain. But, the interpretation has become disconnected from the original work for a simple reason: absence of reading the original work. Per Buchan, Smith's thoughts on the "laissez faire" capitalism are far more nuanced than current interpretations suggest. Smith showed a very sophisticated understanding of when markets work and when they don't. When monopolies or government are in better position to deliver certain services than free-market competitors. He also showed much concern for ethics in commerce at both the individual and organizational levels. It is as if he anticipated the potential abuse that the absence of ethics would cause (Drexel Burnham, Enron). So, Buchan rectifies for us what Adam Smith's economics were about. It was not about libertarian capitalism, but more about ethical and optimized capitalism. This is a major distinction.

The book's third merit is to place Adam Smith's mind and life in historical context of the great Scottish Enlightenment. You see Smith interact with many of his contemporaries, particularly David Hume.

Anyone interested in either history or economics will really enjoy this book. As mentioned, the book imparts so much information and clarifies much misinformation on the subject. If you enjoy this book, I also recommend Buchan's "Crowded Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment."

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very readable way to get some context for the life of Adam Smith and his writings (including "The Wealth of Nations"), August 31, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas (Enterprise) (Hardcover)

Adam Smith is a towering figure in modern economics and is one of the Titans of those who believe in free markets. We use Smith's term "invisible hand" to describe the way forces of competition and self-interest end up producing (on average) the right amount of goods and services to help the economy grown and meet the needs of the populace. The ideas of Adam Smith, or at least the popular notion of what his ideas are, have become so dominant that even "progressive" politicians, journalists, and economists, have tried to find the source of their world view in Smith's writings.

This interesting book by James Buchan makes the argument that too many people from every political stripe (including his conservative - free market acolytes) quote Smith too carelessly and without proper context. Buchan has spent decades of his life working on The Scottish Enlightenment (18th century Scottish History) and provides us with the development of Smith's ideas in the context of the broader development of Scottish philosophical thought. We learn about Smith's career, his writing of both the "Theory of Moral Sentiments" (and what its ideas were) and "The Wealth of Nations". Buchan shows us Smith's friendships including the importance of David Hume to Smith as well as the competitive jealousies of lesser thinkers.

Buchan is a good source for the material in this book because of the work he did in writing "Crowded with Genius" a few years back. He takes the realities of the biography of his subject and the real history of the times too seriously to allow Smith to be misused into supporting anachronistic ideas. While this is a short work, I found many things in it to be valuable and informative.

And while I can certainly grant Buchan's larger point that Smith was no free market capitalist a la Milton Friedman, I cannot accept the idea that all political persuasions draw on Smith equally or with the same sense of heritage. It is important to note that inspiration can make for a strange genealogy. There are some who follow and develop a tradition more or less directly and faithfully (Mozart of Haydn and C.P.E. Bach), there are those who follow a tradition and then break into new realms (Beethoven of Mozart and Haydn), there are those who reach back to find reasons for what they are doing to explain their own work (Schoenberg of Brahms "The Revolutionary"), and then there are those who use the past to provide legitimacy for something new (say, the Norman monarchy in England using the legends of King Arthur for their right to rule). Are all equally heirs to their claimed forbearers? Are all equally heirs?

Of course, you must arrive at your own conclusions. It is plain to me that there are distinctions and that Milton Friedman and modern free market capitalism is more of an heir to Smith than are nouveau British Socialists trying to cobble together a lineage to Smith for political advantage.

In any case, Smith's great works are more often referred to than read (even by those doing the referring), so at least you can read this very manageable work to get some context of the man, his life, his work, and his world.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Concise Introduction to Adam Smith, September 11, 2006

By 

Ronald H. Clark (WASHINGTON, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas (Enterprise) (Hardcover)

This is a relatively short (145 pages of text) introduction to the life and thought of Adam Smith. I found it to be an extremely worthwhile read. I have recently become aware that the trend toward shorter books, far from resulting in "dumbed down" works, has produced some very insightful discussions--Ted White's recent short book on Justice Holmes being one example. This fine effort, by the author of the definitive analysis of Edinburgh during the Scotish Enlightenment, is further proof of this development. The author skillfully melds a biography of Smith's life with a concise examination of some of his major theories and ideas. He principally focuses upon the "Theory of Moral Sentiments" and (of course) "The Wealth of Nations," but he touches upon a number of other Smith writings and theories along the way. Quite a lot of useful information is packed into this brief study, and the notes reflect the author's thorough command of the pertinent material. One of the author's goals is to correct what he considers to be some fundamental misinterpretations of Smith's ideas, the "invisibile hand" being a prime example. There is some very interesting discussion of Smith's close relationship with David Hume, and various other figures from the Scottish Enlightenment also make appearances as well. Compact yet expansive in scope makes this fine book very unique, and a worthy addition to the literature on Smith and the Scottish the Enlightenment.