Speaking of Smith Archives

Plato, Adam Smith, and the Good Life

August 1, 2021

Plato and Adam Smith did not see eye to eye on private property or the virtue of commerce. But as Kevin Stucker shows, the two philosophers' thoughts on what makes "the good life" have intriguing similarities.

Reflections on Smith’s Sympathy and the Dread of Death

July 28, 2021

The grave of Adam Smith in Canongate Kirkyard, Edinburgh.

According to Smith, we sympathize not only with living human beings, but also with the dead. But as Professor Harpham of the University of Texas at Dallas explains, we sympathize with the dead in a very peculiar way.

Ferguson on the Advancement of Civil and Commercial Arts

July 25, 2021

Part IV of a five-part #ReadWithMe on Adam Ferguson’s An Essay on the History of Civil Society.

Even Homer Nods: My Line-edits to The Theory of Moral Sentiments

July 21, 2021

"Even Homer nods. That is, even the wisest and most perspicacious authors make mistakes." In this post, Klein unpacks some of Smith's.

Adam Smith—Abducted!

July 14, 2021

Read about Adam Smith's abduction in infancy, and learn how to cook a Roma-style beef stew.

Human Action, But Not Human Design

July 11, 2021

Part III of a Five-Part #ReadWithMe of Adam Ferguson’s An Essay on the History of Civil Society.

How Rude: Adam Ferguson on Civilization

July 5, 2021

Part II of a Five-Part #ReadWithMe of Adam Ferguson’s An Essay on the History of Civil Society

July 4th: One Piece of Our Founding Trilogy

July 1, 2021

We should not view the three holidays of April 9th, Juneteenth, and July 4th as wholly distinct occasions, but rather as three parts of a coherent American whole.

What Adam Smith Ate: Sugar Lumps and Strawberry Fool

June 23, 2021

Learn about Smith's sugar-lump habit, and how to make the eighteenth-century English equivalent of strawberry shortcake, "Strawberry Fool."

Moral Sentiments, Active and Passive

June 21, 2021

Klein walks us through Adam Smith's implicit distinction between active and passive moral sentiments.

What Makes a Human?

June 16, 2021

Part 1 of a #ReadWithMe of Adam Ferguson’s An Essay on the History of Civil Society.

Sympathy and Spectatorship in Adam Smith: A Collection

June 13, 2021

One of Liberty Fund's 2021 Summer Scholar Interns compiles a list of essential readings on Adam Smith and his core concepts of sympathy, spectatorship, and virtue.