Interpreting Adam Smith

Paul Sagar is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, Department of Political Economy, King's College London. He is the author of The Opinion of Mankind: Sociability and the Theory of the State from Hobbes to Smith (2018) and Adam Smith Reconsidered: History, Liberty, and the Foundations of Modern Politics (2022).

Introduction; 1. Smith scholarship: past, present, and future Glory M. Liu; 2. The wealth of nations as a work of social science Christopher J. Berry; 3. Adam Smith's 'Industrial Organization' of religion Barry R. Weingast; 4. Talking to my butcher: self-Interest, exchange, and freedom in the wealth of nations Samuel Fleischacker; 5. What did Adam Smith mean? The semantics of the opening key principles in the wealth of nations Bart J. Wilson and Gian Marco Farese; 6. Adam Smith and virtuous business James R. Otteson; 7. Adam Smith and the morality of political economy: a public choice reading Maria Pia Paganelli; 8. A moral philosophy for commercial society? Robin Douglass; 9. Adam Smith, sufficientarian Paul Sagar; 10. Narrowing the scope of resentment in Smith's theory of moral sentiments John T. Scott and Michelle Schwarze; 11. Adam Smith: stoic and epicurean Lisa Hill; 12. 'Much Better Instructors': Adam Smith and the role of literature in moral education Lauren Kopajtic; 13. Sophie De Grouchy as an activist interpreter of Adam Smith Kathleen McCrudden Illert; 14. Adam Smith and the limits of philosophy Craig Smith; Bibliography; Index.