Adam Smith's System of Liberty, Wealth, and Virtue: The Moral and Political Foundations of The Wealth of Nations [Hardcover]

Athol Fitzgibbons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0198289235 | ISBN-13: 978-0198289234

This book examines the influence that Adam Smith's philosophy had on his economics, drawing on the neglected parts of Smith's writings to show that the political and economic theories built logically on his morals. It analyses the significance of his stoic beliefs, his notions of art and music, astronomy, philosophy and war, and shows that Smith's invisible hand was part of a `system' that was meant to replace medieval Christianity with an ethic of virtue in this world rather than the next.
Smith was motivated primarily by a political ideal, a moral version of liberalism. He rejected the political philosophy of the Greeks and Christians as authoritarian and unworldly, but contrary to what many economists believe, he also rejected the amoral liberalism that was being advocated by his countryman and friend David Hume. Far from being myopic about self-love, Smith arrived at his theories of free trade, economic growth, and alienation via his reinterpretation of Stoic virtue. Athol Fitzgibbons' account is clearly written, and its innovations reveal the hitherto hidden unity in Smith's overarching system of morals, politics and economics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A provocative explanation of the relation between Adam Smith's moral theory, politics, and economics."--Choice

"The best synthetic analysis of Smith's system available and deserves a wide audience."--American Political Science Review

About the Author

Athol Fitzgibbons is a Head of the School of Economics at Griffith University, Queensland.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 31, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198289235
• ISBN-13: 978-0198289234
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,829,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but flawed;The "Invisible Hand" has nothing to do with Stoicism, God or Providence, July 4, 2007

By 

Michael Emmett Brady "mandmbrady" (Bellflower, California ,United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adam Smith's System of Liberty, Wealth, and Virtue: The Moral and Political Foundations of The Wealth of Nations (Paperback)

The fundamental error in this book is Fitzgibbon's attempt to read into the Wealth of Nations(Smith;1776) his a priori belief,also held by other writers on Smith, that the Invisible Hand of The Market, which is Smith's metaphor for the seemingly uncoordinated result of the social interactions and feedback effects created by the economic process, which is based on individual comparative advantage ,the specialization of labor,division of labor,extension of the market,economic growth(of cities,states,nations,or the world)and trade,is somehow directed by God.Individual job specialization ,within a connected web of many other specialized job holders,aids the individual and society all at the same time but this is not the result of God's intervention.Individual self interest(obtaining a specialized education,training or productive skill)benefits society as a whole.However,this has nothing to do with some mystical,metaphysical plan of God.

On the other hand,Smith recognizes that this process(the Invisible Hand of the Market) also generates detrimental,undepletable externalities,as well as spillovers and side effects, that can only be remedied by direct government intervention into the economic process in order to mitigate,reduce,or diminish the deleterious social costs[See WN,1776,pp.734-735,Modern Library(Cannan) edition].

In summary,the Invisible Hand process is a great economic wealth creator that has major social,political,intellectual,martial and ethical negatives that must be remedied.Only Government can remedy these problems.Period.If government institutions and policies are not used to provide remedies,then the inherent problems will gradually grow worse over time,possibly feeding back and negatively impacting aggregate economic performance.Economists,naturally,do not want to hear this,especially from the economist universally considered to be the best.

This book can be profitably read in its current form but needs to be completely revised in a future edition.Fitzgibbons appears to have only p read certain parts of Smith's book before publishing a book that purports to deal with Smith's entire book.He needs to finish the entire book.This is very hard to do for economists,in general