POLI 7908 Adam Smith

Undergraduates allowed by permission of the instructor. An intensive survey of the moral and political philosophy of Adam Smith. Primary focus on his two published texts, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations, with some additional consideration of the roles played in his larger system his lectures on rhetoric and jurisprudence and his essays on scientific inquiry. Specific concepts to be examined will include the key concepts of Smith's moral theory (esp. his concepts of sympathy, spectatorship, virtue, perfection and corruption), the key concepts of his political theory (esp. his concepts of authority, law, and the state and its responsibilities), and the key concepts of his economic thought (esp. the benefits and effects of the division of labor, free trade, and economic planning).