Jonathan Conlin - Critical Lives: Adam Smith download book PDF, FB2, MOBI
9781780235684 1780235682 Universally acknowledged as the father of capitalism, the eighteenth-century Scottish thinker Adam Smith is best known for his invisible hand theory. This theory argued in favor of setting individuals free to pursue their self-interests for the good of all and has helped to make Smith's name synonymous with unfettered free market capitalism. In this book, Jonathan Conlin rescues Smith from the straight-jacket of economics, reattaching the invisible hand to Smith s philosophy of ethics. As Conlin shows, Smith rooted our instincts to trade in human psychology. Analyzing the contrasts he saw between the industrializing Scottish lowlands and the clan-based pastoralism of the Scottish highlands as well as the contrasts between the ideas of contemporary thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume Smith advanced a system of ethics founded on sympathy. Weaving together Smith s life and ideas, Conlin shows how the latter anticipated much more recent developments surrounding behavioral economics, virtue ethics, and social inequality. Ultimately, Conlin argues, Adam Smith offers us a set of tools to face today's challenges and become better and happier human beings."
9781780235684 1780235682 Universally acknowledged as the father of capitalism, the eighteenth-century Scottish thinker Adam Smith is best known for his invisible hand theory. This theory argued in favor of setting individuals free to pursue their self-interests for the good of all and has helped to make Smith's name synonymous with unfettered free market capitalism. In this book, Jonathan Conlin rescues Smith from the straight-jacket of economics, reattaching the invisible hand to Smith s philosophy of ethics. As Conlin shows, Smith rooted our instincts to trade in human psychology. Analyzing the contrasts he saw between the industrializing Scottish lowlands and the clan-based pastoralism of the Scottish highlands as well as the contrasts between the ideas of contemporary thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume Smith advanced a system of ethics founded on sympathy. Weaving together Smith s life and ideas, Conlin shows how the latter anticipated much more recent developments surrounding behavioral economics, virtue ethics, and social inequality. Ultimately, Conlin argues, Adam Smith offers us a set of tools to face today's challenges and become better and happier human beings."