The Essays of Adam Smith

"The Essays of Adam Smith" by Adam Smith is a collection of philosophical essays written in the 18th century. This work explores a variety of topics including moral sentiments, the formation of languages, and inquiries into astronomy and the arts. It delves into human nature, ethics, and the principles guiding social behavior, aiming to articulate the psychological mechanisms underlying human interactions. The opening of this collection introduces the foundational theme of moral sentiments, focusing on the concept of sympathy. Smith asserts that human beings possess inherent principles that connect them to the fortunes of others, allowing for feelings of compassion and a shared emotional experience. He elaborates on how individuals gauge the emotional states of others by relating their feelings to their own, highlighting the interplay between one's internal feelings and the actions of others. The essay sets the stage for a rich exploration of how our sentiments shape our perceptions of propriety, justice, and moral reasoning throughout the collection. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Adam Smith was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics" or "The Father of Capitalism", he wrote two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work that treats economics as a comprehensive system and as an academic discipline. Smith refuses to explain the distribution of wealth and power in terms of God's will and instead appeals to natural, political, social, economic, legal, environmental and technological factors and the interactions among them. Among other economic theories, the work introduced Smith's idea of absolute advantage.