Smith, Adam (1723–1790)

Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and pioneering political economist and is often seen as the founder and great proselytizer of what is called the modern economy with all its associated freedom. He is one of the pivotal early contributors to the modern perception of free market economics. Smith is one of the great two key philosophical figures with David Hume who are seen as leaders of the intellectual movement known as the Scottish Enlightenment; he is known primarily as the author of two major treatises: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Smith, 1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Smith, 1776), commonly just referred to as “The Wealth of Nations.”

Smith regarded The Theory of Moral Sentiments as his most significant work because in it he identified the profound human instinct to act not necessarily in self-interest but through, as he phrased it, a “mutual sympathy of sentiments.” The work is divided into seven parts, starting with Part 1:...