Adam Smith and the Rights of Man

October 2023

with Renee Wilmeth

We appreciate your interest in this virtual reading group. Unfortunately, this VRG is full and we are no longer accepting registrations. We invite you to check out our upcoming events here. We hope to see you at a future VRG!

Literature can be an excellent lens through which to view political theory, moral lessons, and economic principles. Graphic novels, with their sharp, illustrative storytelling techniques are no exception. The graphic novel of today has come a long way from the comic books that many readers remember from their childhoods. In this virtual reading group, we explore three graphic novels along with Enlightenment principles of jurisprudence. We also watch a film that serves as a narrative lesson in an animated graphic novel format.

Adam Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence, originally delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1762–1763, presents his “theory of the rules by which civil government ought to be directed.” The chief purpose of government, according to Smith, is to preserve justice; and “the object of justice is security from injury.” The state must protect the individual’s right to his person, property, reputation, and social relations.

Readings:

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi – This autobiography is the author’s own story growing up during the Iranian Revolution, it tells the story through a child’s eyes and later those of a young woman exploring her own history and political views.
Isle of Dogs, a film by Wes Anderson – This allegory addresses prejudice, pandemic, racism, and the power of young people to change the world in a Japanese anime-style story of cats, dogs, duty, and hope. (Watch via Disney Plus or Amazon video.)
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (#1), Art Spiegelman -- Winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize, this graphic novel tells the story of both a father and his harrowing survival of The Holocaust and a son, who struggles with his own relationship with his aging father and history.
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons – Author Alan Moore is one of the most acclaimed graphic novel authors and Watchmen was named by Time as one of the top 100 English-language novels written since 1923. It takes place in an alternate history where superheroes have been outlawed.
Lectures on Jurisprudence, Adam Smith
Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary, David Hume, Essay IV, Of the First Principles of Government

Session I: Wednesday, October 4, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT, The Foundations of Government and Individual Rights

In this session, we explore Revolutionary Iran through the eyes of a young girl learning about beliefs, lies, protests, revolution, and her place in the world. We also look at an allegory of racism and exclusion (among other things) in Wes Anderson’s 2018 film Isle of Dogs.

Readings:

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi
Isle of Dogs, a film by Wes Anderson, stream via Disney Plus or Amazon Video
Lectures on Jurisprudence, Adam Smith, Liberty Fund edition, Friday, Dec 24, 1762, i.1, p 5-9 (through paragraph 16)
Lectures on Jurisprudence, Adam Smith, Liberty Fund edition, ii.40, Personal Rights, p 86-92 (end of section)

Session II: Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT, Authority, Allegiance, and Leadership

In this session, we get a sense of how a graphic novel can tell a powerful story and look at themes of oppression, fascism, and imprisonment. Spiegelman’s Maus gives us an easy-to-read entry into the medium as we look to Smith for his thoughts on authority in government.

Readings:

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (#1), Art Spiegelman
Lectures on Jurisprudence, Adam Smith, Liberty Fund edition, v.120, p 318-326 (end of section)
Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary, David Hume, Essay IV, Of the First Principles of Government

Session III: Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT, Government and Public Duty

In the last two sessions, we tackle the Watchmen, a ground-breaking graphic novel with complex themes around government, service, censorship, and redemption. As a note, the HBO series was intended as a sequel to the story, not a retelling.

Readings:

Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Chapters 1-5
Lectures on Jurisprudence, Adam Smith, Liberty Fund edition, Of Public Jurisprudence, p 401-411 (end of page)

Session IV: Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT, Police, Law, and the Public

Readings:

Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Chapters 6-end
Lectures on Jurisprudence, Adam Smith, Liberty Fund Edition, vi.3, p 331-339 (end of section)