polity
Copyright © Craig Smith 2020
The right of Craig Smith to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2020 by Polity Press
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ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1822-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1823-4 (pb)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Smith, Craig, 1977- author.
Title: Adam Smith / Craig Smith.
Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2020. | Series: Classic thinkers series | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Craig Smith’s new crystal-clear introduction reveals a far more complex and nuanced figure whose rich legacy remains highly relevant today”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019033302 (print) | LCCN 2019033303 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509518227 | ISBN 9781509518234 (pb) | ISBN 9781509518265 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Smith, Adam, 1723-1790. | Economists--Great Britain--Biography.
Classification: LCC HB103.S6 E36 2020 (print) | LCC HB103.S6 (ebook) | DDC 330.15/3092 [B]--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033302
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033303
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When I was first approached to contribute a volume on Adam Smith to the Polity Classic Thinkers series, I decided that I would attempt to produce a work that both introduced readers to the whole of Smith’s body of thought and, at the same time, made the case for reading that body of thought as a consistent and coherent intellectual project. In writing the book, I have received much valued support and guidance from the editorial team at Polity, particularly George Owers and Julia Davies, and from the comments of three anonymous readers. Christopher J. Berry, Maria Pia Paganelli, and Kate Spence kindly agreed to read the draft manuscript and offered helpful constructive criticism. The book is a result of fifteen years teaching Adam Smith to undergraduate and postgraduate students. My position as Adam Smith Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow has allowed me to teach Smith to an interdisciplinary group of students drawn from Politics, Sociology, History, and Philosophy. Many of the formulations and examples included here first sprang from that classroom experience. As a result, this book is dedicated to the students of my courses on the Scottish Enlightenment and the Wealth of Nations at the University of Glasgow.
All references to Smith’s works will be to the standard scholarly edition, the Glasgow Edition published by Oxford University Press, and will refer to the volume by title and page. Other notes will direct the reader to helpful secondary material listed in the bibliography that further explores the issues at hand.
Ancient Physics: ‘The Principles which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries; Illustrated by the History of the Ancient Physics’, in Essays on Philosophical Subjects, ed. W. P. D. Wightman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980 [1795], pp. 106–17.
Astronomy: ‘The Principles which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries; Illustrated by the History of Astronomy’, in Essays on Philosophical Subjects, ed. W. P. D. Wightman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980 [1795], pp. 31–105.
Correspondence: Correspondence of Adam Smith, eds Ernest Campbell Mossner & Ian Simpson Ross, rev. edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Imitative Arts: ‘Of the Nature of that Imitation which Takes Place in What Are Called the Imitative Arts’, in Essays on Philosophical Subjects, ed. W. P. D. Wightman, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980 [1795], pp. 176–213.
Jurisprudence: Lectures on Jurisprudence, eds R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, & P. G. Stein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
Moral Sentiments: The Theory of Moral Sentiments, eds D. D. Raphael & A. L. Macfie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976 [1759].
Rhetoric: Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, ed. J. C. Bryce. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 2 vols, eds R. H. Campbell & A. S. Skinner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976 [1776].