Adam Smith's Moral Philosophy: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective on Markets, Law, Ethics, and Culture (Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics)

by Jerry Evensky (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0521703864

ISBN-10: 0521703867

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Adam Smith is the best known among economists for his book, The Wealth of Nations, often viewed as the keystone of modern economic thought. Others, often heterodox economists and social philosophers, on the contrary, focus on Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, and explore his moral theory. This work treats these dimensions of Smith’s work as elements in a seamless moral philosophical vision, demonstrating the integrated nature of these works and Smith’s other writings. Although many practitioners today see the study of Smith as an antiquarian exercise, this book weaves Smith into a constructive critique of modern ecnomic analysis (engaging along the way the work of Nobel Laureates Gary Becker, Amarty Sen, Douglass North, and James Buchanan) and builds bridges between that discourse and the other social sciences.

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'… the mature result of a lifelong project.' History of Economic Ideas

Book Description

This work aims to treat Adam Smith's two great works as a seamless whole.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press (March 12, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521703867
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521703864
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.88 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,090,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #879 in Philosophy of Law
- #1,169 in Business Ethics (Books)
- #1,386 in Economic Theory (Books)

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Michael Emmett Brady

4.5 stars-the best long study of Smith.

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2007

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Evensky(E) has done a great job in covering the major contributions of Adam Smith.He correctly integrates The Theory of Moral Sentiments(TMS,1759;1st edition) with The Wealth of Nations(WN;1776).He shows the importance of Smith's sixth and final edition of TMS in which Smith added a completely new part,Part VI,that dealt with the necessity of promoting morality as a social good that would generate positive externalities to the society as a whole.E correctly shows that Smith viewed government in a positive light and saw that it had to successfully carry out certain functions in order for that society to be prosperous.

My major criticism is that E does not place enough emphasis on the dark side of the Invisible Hand-the undepletable ,detrimental externalities that negatively impact the moral,political,social,martial,and intellectual(as well as limiting the extension of the Invisible Hand by destroying the capability of the work force to make a series of continuous improvements in the machinery that they use in the mass production process)capabilities of the work force as a whole,resulting in "...the almost entire corruption and degeneracy of the great body of the people"(Smith,p.734;Modern Library edition-Cannan) unless government intervenes to prevent or reduce the social damages .E refers to this problem in his footnote 21 on p.13 of his book:"It should be noted that Smith is keenly aware of the potential for technical advancement in production to numb the minds of workers".He returns to the problem again in chapter 9 where he treats the role of government in Smith's system.However,he only spends 1 page discussing how the provision of education(he leaves out the importance of religious instruction and hence misses the reason explaining why Smith added a new Part VI to TMS in 1790. Part VI was required in order to provide the theoretical foundation for his discussions of mass education on pp.716-768 of WN)is viewed .E needed to spend an entire chapter on Smith's careful discussion of all of the negative spillover effects that will result from the operation of the Invisible Hand on pp.734-741.The statement above that it "...numbs the minds..." is an understatement similar to the understatements made by Robert Heilbroner about the "... stultifying effect of mass production..." that would lead to " ...a decline in manly virtues..."(Heilbroner,p.68,The Worldly Philosophers).Smith's much more emphatic characterization and detailed treatment of the actual problem is correct.The problem is much more severe then a decline in manly virtues or numbing of the mind.Every future author on Smith needs to devote one chapter of his book to this actual,not just potential, problem.The failure to deal with it leads directly to Marx's analysis.

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technetium

While not easy reading, it offers good insight into Adam Smith's ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2016

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This is an academic work with numerous footnotes that get in the way of the book's flow. While not easy reading, it offers good insight into Adam Smith's thinking.

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L. Shipp

The best modern exposition of Adam Smith's thought

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 17, 2012

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I recently did a year-long course on Adam Smith in the third-year of my history degree, and my lecturer described this book as the closest thing we had to a textbook. It's a brilliant exposition of Adam Smith's thought (mainly as it appears in 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' and 'The Wealth of Nations', though also including his lectures and other writings), analysing as it explains, and addressing important issues of interpretation (e.g., did Adam Smith believe in God?). The first part deals mainly with his 'Theory of Moral Sentiments', the philosophical work he wrote on human behaviour. The second part then deals with 'The Wealth of Nations', showing (amongst many other things) how it developed from and is consistent with the 'Theory'. The last part then places Smith in 'the modern discourse' of economics, showing the various ways his works have been interpreted, and how his ideas fit in modern discussion and debate. Evensky quotes from Smith quite extensively, which is good for getting an idea of how Smith presented his ideas, but may alienate those for whom eighteenth-century writing is incomprehensible. Having said that, Evensky rarely risks letting the reader miss Smith's points; quotations are almost always explained and analyzed.

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Adam Smith's Moral Philosophy: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective on Markets, Law, Ethics, and Culture (Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics)