Book contents
- Interpreting Adam Smith
- Interpreting Adam Smith
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations of Works by Adam Smith
- Introduction
- 1 Smith Scholarship
- 2 The Wealth of Nations as a Work of Social Science
- 3 Adam Smith’s “Industrial Organization” of Religion
- 4 Talking to My Butcher
- 5 What Did Adam Smith Mean? The Semantics of the Opening Key Principles in the Wealth of Nations
- 6 Adam Smith and Virtuous Business
- 7 Adam Smith and the Morality of Political Economy
- 8 A Moral Philosophy for Commercial Society?
- 9 Adam Smith, Sufficientarian
- 10 Narrowing the Scope of Resentment in Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments
- 11 Adam Smith
- 12 “Much Better Instructors”
- 13 Sophie de Grouchy as an Activist Interpreter of Adam Smith
- 14 Adam Smith and the Limits of Philosophy
- Bibliography
- Index
11 - Adam Smith
Stoic and Epicurean
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 September 2023
- Interpreting Adam Smith
- Interpreting Adam Smith
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations of Works by Adam Smith
- Introduction
- 1 Smith Scholarship
- 2 The Wealth of Nations as a Work of Social Science
- 3 Adam Smith’s “Industrial Organization” of Religion
- 4 Talking to My Butcher
- 5 What Did Adam Smith Mean? The Semantics of the Opening Key Principles in the Wealth of Nations
- 6 Adam Smith and Virtuous Business
- 7 Adam Smith and the Morality of Political Economy
- 8 A Moral Philosophy for Commercial Society?
- 9 Adam Smith, Sufficientarian
- 10 Narrowing the Scope of Resentment in Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments
- 11 Adam Smith
- 12 “Much Better Instructors”
- 13 Sophie de Grouchy as an Activist Interpreter of Adam Smith
- 14 Adam Smith and the Limits of Philosophy
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In this chapter I argue that Adam Smith’s moral, social and economic thought was influenced by both Stoic and Epicurean sources with surprising and fruitful results. Although these schools of thought conflicted in most respects, Smith adopted and adapted elements from each to creatively construct a kind of ‘benign-realist’ social science able to explain the order of the human universe while comprehending humans as they really were rather than as we might wish them to be. By combining the Stoic idea that all of nature is both divine and benign with a pragmatic Epicurean moral psychology, Smith not only reconciles his own realist intuitions with his sincere faith in a designed universe, but produces a compelling account of how economies and societies should operate. I show this by exploring how Smith responded to the Stoic and Epicurean approaches to virtue, self-interest, benevolence, justice and our obligations to others, especially strangers and foreigners. I also explore how he applied an Epicurean sensibility to reimagine Stoic cosmopolitanism.
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- Information
- Interpreting Adam SmithCritical Essays, pp. 177 - 193Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023