Synopses & Reviews
The great eighteenth-century British economist Adam Smith (1723andndash;90) is celebrated as the founder of modern economics. Yet Smith saw himself primarily as a philosopher rather than an economist and would never have predicted that the ideas for which he is now best known were his most important. Thisand#160;biography shows the extent to which Smith's great works,and#160;The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments, were part of one of the most ambitious projects of the Euruopean Enlightenment, a grand andldquo;Science of Manandquot; that would encompass law, history, and aesthetics as well as economics and ethics, and which was only half complete on Smithandrsquo;s death in 1790.
Nick Phillipson reconstructs Smithandrsquo;s intellectual ancestry and shows what Smith took from, and what he gave to, in the rapidly changing intellectual and commercial cultures of Glasgow and Edinburgh as they entered the great years of the Scottish Enlightenment. Above all he explains how far Smithandrsquo;s ideas developed in dialogue with those of his closest friend, the other titan of the age, David Hume.
Review
"An unabashedly intellectual biography . . . [written] in graceful prose. . . . For all that subsequent generations, no less our own, have taken from Smith's economic contributions, it is indeed enlightening to understand the broader sweep of his vision."--Nancy F. Koehn, New York Times
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"In a feast of both writing and erudition, Nicholas Phillipson has recreated the intellectual and mercantile world of Adam Smith, and shows how it shaped Smiths two masterpieces, the Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations. He sets Smiths economics firmly in the philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment - and especially of his great friend David Hume - and argues compellingly that for Smith material improvement was not an end in itself, but a necessary condition for human ennoblement, which was the grand aim of his lifes work. A wonderful, thought-provoking book."—Robert Skidelsky, biographer of John Maynard Keynes Tyler Cowen - NPR's Marketplace
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"Nicholas Phillipsons lifelong study of Adam Smith has been well worth waiting for. Phillipson treats Smiths The Wealth of Nations as the sequel to his Theory of Moral Sentiments. Political economy and the history of society were handmaids to the moral philosophy which Enlightenment thinkers intended as the replacement of religion. This story has never been better told than in this deeply sympathetic biography of an intellectually ambitious but personally modest man, and it is a superb portrait of the Scotland, Britain and Europe he lived in."— J.G.A. Pocock, Johns Hopkins University Robert Skidelsky
Review
"This stylish biography brings to life Adam Smiths breathtaking ambition to create a Science of Man. Phillipsons elegant prose and erudition make clear the necessary relationship between Smiths moral philosophy and his political economy. The reader is left with a deeper appreciation for Smiths project and for the eighteenth-century Scottish world in which he lived. This book is both a delight to read and agenda-setting. A real achievement!"—Steve Pincus, Yale University J.G.A. Pocock
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"This is easily the best book on Smith Ive read: a wonderfully accessible, thoroughly researched, full-bodied drama examining the philosopher and economist. Phillipsons biography presents Smith as a living personality, not just an imposing intellect, tracking his social, economic, and political moves from his birthplace Kirkcaldy, to Glasgow and Oxford, through his various lectures and professorships, travels around Europe, preparation of
The Wealth of Nations, and finally to his work for the government. In doing so, it makes a strong case for the importance and complexity - perhaps primacy - of the Scottish Enlightenment and the men who contributed to it. In clean and clear prose, Phillipson explains what Smith was writing and why he was writing it, whether moral philosophy, jurisprudence, rhetoric or political economy. This beguiling blend of Smiths intellection and experience should appeal to anyone interested in the making of the modern world."—David Hancock, author of
Oceans of Wine: Madeira and the Emergence of American Trade and Taste Steve Pincus
Review
and#8220;Lively [and] well-observed. . . . It would take a and#8216;skilful penciland#8217; to bring Smith to life, warned one of his friends. In bringing Smithand#8217;s ideas to life, Phillipson shows that his pencilwork is skilful indeed. and#8221;and#8212;The Economist
Review
"Remarkable, often brilliant. . . stuffed with acute philosophical observations. But no less fascinating is the portrait of the milieu in which Smith lived. . . . Phillipson's exposition of [Smith's] 'enlightened life' can scarcely be bettered."and#8212;The Times (London)
Review
"[A] great achievement. . . . Few books have shed better light on what Smith meant and why he wrote as he did."—Scotland on Sunday David Hancock
Review
"The myth of Adam Smith is that he was the hard-nosed high priest of self-interested capitalism. [Phillipson] shows that his intellectual goals were far greater and nobler. . . . Phillipson has portrayed an Adam Smith for our times."—New Statesman Scotland on Sunday
Review
"The Smith who emerges from this thoughtful study. . . had an intellect of extraordinary brilliance, and it is the life of that intellect that is finely portrayed in this book."—Sunday Telegraph (London) New Statesman
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"Phillipsons path-breaking biography shines new light on the complex development of this much-misunderstood thinker."—The Independent (London) Sunday Telegraph (London)
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"Phillipson has been studying [the Scottish Enlightenment], this explosion of genius, all his life, and is a trustworthy guide to the life of Adam Smith."—Financial Times The Independent (London)
Review
"Having failed so royally to predict or ameliorate our present distress, some economists may come to examine their assumptions and be drawn to this fine book and its mighty subject."—The Guardian (London) Financial Times
Review
"Drawing on Smiths published works and studen -- The Guardian (London)
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"A fascinating book. . . . Adam Smith finally has the biography that he deserves, and it could not be more timely."and#8212;Jeffrey Collins, Wall Street Journal
Review
"[Nicholas Phillipson] tries, very successfully, to pull together the two Smiths, letting us see how the man of feeling became the little god of finance. . . making it plain that Smith was more moral-man than market-man."and#8212;Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
Review
"One good reason to read Nicholas Phillipson'sand#160;excellent intellectual biography is to gain a more nuanced understanding of Smith and, inand#160;particular, of his vision of an all-embracing science of man.and#160;. . . When Phillipson discusses The Wealth of Nations, it's hard not to discern parallels between Smith's time and our own."and#8212;Michael Dirda, Washington Post
Review
"This year, my favorite business book was Nicholas Phillipson's biography of Adam Smith. It showed that Smith is still the greatest economist of all time, wise about human nature, and that he understands the power of capitalism."and#8212;Tyler Cowen, NPR's "Marketplace"
Review
Named a Favorite Business Book of 2010 by James Pressley, Bloomberg BusinessWeek
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Named a Best Book of 2010 by the Atlantic James Pressley - Bloomberg Business Week
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Named a Critics' Favorite Book of 2010—The New Yorker Atlantic Monthly
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Named a Best Business Book of 2010 by Tyler Cowen, NPRs "Marketplace" The New Yorker
Review
"One good reason to read Nicholas Phillipson's excellent intellectual Adam Gopnik - The New Yorker
Review
"Smith has had too few biographers, and that most of them have fallen into one of two traps — the purely intellectual biography, in which the man is merely the vehicle for his ideas, and the purely contextual biography in which the man is just a representative of his time and place. The best modern studies of Smith — Joseph Cropsey's Polity and Economy, and Jerry Muller's Adam Smith in His Time and Ours — fall respectively into these two camps. Like so much that has been written about Smith, they make the reader yearn for something more. With this superb new book, Nicholas Phillipson has answered that yearning at last." Yuval Levin, The New Republic (Read the entire New Republic review)
About the Author
Nicholas Phillipson is one of the leading scholars of the Scottish Enlightenment. An Honorary Research Fellow in History at the University of Edinburgh, he has held visiting appointments at Princeton, Yale, the Folger Library, and the Ludwigs-Maximillian Universitat. An associate editor on the New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and a founding editor of the journal Modern Intellectual History, he was codirector of the Science of Man in Scotland project and past president of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society.