Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

David Williams (University of Sheffield)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Gina Lyle (University of York), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Domains

Political Economy

Dates

First circulation or publication 1776

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

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Adam Smith's reputation and authority as an economic theorist rest upon his celebrated, and still controversial, treatise on the nature of political economy. Smith saw political economy as a component part of moral philosophy, and the links between the

Wealth of Nations

and the

Theory of Moral Sentiments

have received close attention from modern commentators. The 1759

Theory of Moral Sentiments

(q.v.) contains analyses of virtue and moral judgement, in the form of the doctrines of sympathy and of the “impartial oberserver”, which illuminate the ways in which economic forces interact with the social and moral worlds. The view of human relationships and motivations that Smith elaborated in the

Theory

remains generally operative in his later thinking on economic systems, and is…

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1649 words

Citation: Williams, David. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 November 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6629, accessed 27 November 2024.]