1. Life & Times
  2. Speaking of Smith
  3. Archives

Speaking of Smith Archives

Why Adam Smith Belongs in "The Good Place"

Heather King for AdamSmithWorks

December 9, 2019


In a show about what it means to become morally good, Adam Smith’s absence is conspicuous. I’d like to suggest that Schur put Smith on his reading list, both because Smith is part of the larger philosophical conversation in which the show is engaged, and because Smith provides an explanation for the characters’ dilemma, as well as a way out.  

Adam Smith and Slavery

Matthew Lowenstein for AdamSmithWorks

December 2, 2019


...is he right on the economics? That is, are there instances when slave labor could, at least conceptually, more effectively mobilize and accumulate capital than free labor? 

Isn’t It Odd? The Project on Smith, Hume, Liberalism and Esotericism

Dan Klein for AdamSmithWorks

November 22, 2019

Can We Become the Impartial Spectator?

Nir Ben-Moshe for AdamSmithWorks

November 11, 2019


To what extent did Smith believe we can become the impartial spectator?

Smith's Assembler


Rachel Lomasky for AdamSmithWorks

November 4, 2019

A Modern Lawyer and Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence, Part 2

Clark Neily for AdamSmithWorks

October 7, 2019


Ensuring justice in a complex world is a daunting task. But it is the fundamental duty and the true raison d’etre of every sovereign, every elected body, and every legitimate political regime of whatever character or constitution. 

In Praise of Luxury: Hume's “Of Refinement in the Arts”

Certainly, we know luxury can be taken to excess, and that it how we most often think of it. But Hume points out that its denial can also be excessive.

Adam Smith on the Country-City Debate

What is the "best place" to live- the city or the country?

September 23, 2019


by Sarah Skwire for AdamSmithWorks