Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s undeserved legacy as a proponent of laissez-faire and liberal institutions at the international scope inhibits profiting from his refined analysis of international affairs. I argue that the Wealth of Nations’ chapter on colonies contains Smith’s discussion of the sovereign’s adaptation to ignorance in global politics. I examine the sense in which the sovereign is ignorant according to Smith and how sovereigns adapt to ignorance with varying success. His comparative analysis suggests that reduction of one’s share in ignorance (...) is not always desirable, and a priori rejection of ignorance is impractical because it deprives of a potentially advantageous resource. A careful reading of his work enables learning from his approach to global politics, without filtering it through his ideas on the free market. (shrink)

This paper discusses Adam Smith's views of social justice. It first describes Smith's optimistic view of markets, for example with regard to the absence of negative externalities, which implies that he considered certain normative problems to be the exception rather than the rule. Then, Smith's views on redistribution are discussed: although he is sympathetic to progressive taxation, his main focus remains on free markets, which can partly be explained by his distrust of politicians. If one takes a closer look as (...) Smith's views of markets, however, it turns out that one of the reasons why he endorses them is their distributive features. He saw them as an antidote to the inequalities of the feudal age, offering all individuals an opportunity to work their way up to a decent standard of living and leading to more equality in the long run. Thus, Smith's account, while out-dated in certain ways, can serve as an inspiration for thinking about distributive justice not only as a question of redistributive taxation but also as a question of the institutional design of markets. (shrink)

In this article, I examine two competing republican ideals of a free society of equals in the eighteenth century. I claim that while the value of nondependency was central to the economic outlooks of both Adam Smith and Richard Price, their evaluations of free-market practices were dramatically distinct. In doing so, I introduce a new interpretation of the typologies of republicanism in the eighteenth century.

This article examines Adam Smith’s views on animals, centering on the singularity of his economic perspective in the context of the general early ethical debate about animals. Particular emphasis is placed on his discussions of animals as property. The article highlights the tension between Smith’s moral sensitivity to animal suffering on the one hand, and his emphasis on the constitutive role that the utilization of animals played in the progress of civilization on the other. This tension is depicted as a (...) precursor of problematic aspects of the modern environmental crisis. (shrink)

It is a commonplace that the writers of eighteenth century Scotland played a key role in shaping the early practice of social science. This paper examines how this ‘Scottish’ contribution to the Enlightenment generation of social science was shaped by the fascination with unintended consequences. From Adam Smith's invisible hand to Hume's analysis of convention, through Ferguson's sociology, and Millar's discussion of rank, by way of Robertson's View of Progress, the concept of unintended consequences pervades the writing of the period. (...) The paper argues that the idea of unintended order shapes the understanding of the purpose of theoretical social science that emerges from the Scottish Enlightenment. (shrink)

This article leverages insights from the body of Adam Smith’s work, including two lesser-known manuscripts—the Theory of Moral Sentiments and Lectures in Jurisprudence —to help answer the question as to how companies should morally prioritize corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and stakeholder claims. Smith makes philosophical distinctions between justice and beneficence and perfect and imperfect rights, and we leverage those distinctions to speak to contemporary CSR and stakeholder management theories. We address the often-neglected question as to how far a company (...) should be expected to go in pursuit of CSR initiatives and we offer a fresh perspective as to the role of business in relation to stakeholders and to society as a whole. Smith’s moral insights help us to propose a practical framework of legitimacy in stakeholder claims that can help managers select appropriate and responsible CSR activities. (shrink)

RESUMEN Al reconstruir el cambio en la figura del otro entre la escuela del sentido moral y el sistema de la simpatía, es posible establecer una diferencia importante entre A. Smith y sus antecesores en la Ilustración escocesa, y explorar desde un nuevo ángulo el lugar que ocupa la política en la obra de Smith. Al pasar de una figura universal y abstracta, a una concreta y real, el sistema de la simpatía permite pensar en la continuidad que hay entre (...) la comunidad moral y la comunidad política y también en su ruptura, cuando la segunda se convierte en el espacio que permite manejar la exclusión que puede generar la primera. La invisibilidad de algunos miembros de la comunidad moral exige la creación de un espacio de tolerancia para evitar la violencia simbólica que implica la negación de participar en la comunicación afectiva de la simpatía. ABSTRACT The system of sympathy introduces a change in the figure of the other with respect to the school of moral sense. The reconstruction of this change reveals an important difference between A. Smith and his Scottish Enlightenment predecessors, which allows for the examination of the role of politics in Smith's work from a new angle. By replacing an abstract, universal figure with a concrete, actual one, the system of sympathy makes it possible to think the continuity between the moral community and the political community, but also its disruption, whenever the latter becomes a space to handle the exclusion that might be generated by the former. The invisibility of some of the members of the moral community requires the creation of a space of tolerance in order to avoid the symbolic violence entailed by the refusal to participate in the affective communication of sympathy. RESUMO Ao reconstruir a mudança na figura do outro entre a escola do sentido moral e o sistema da simpatia, é possível estabelecer uma diferença importante entre A. Smith e seus antecessores na Ilustração escocesa e explorar, sob um novo ângulo, o lugar que a política ocupa na obra de Smith. Ao passar de uma figura universal e abstrata para uma concreta e real, o sistema da simpatia permite pensar na continuidade que há entre a comunidade moral e a comunidade política e também em sua ruptura, quando a segunda se converte no espaço que permite manejar a exclusão que pode gerar a primeira. A invisibilidade de alguns membros da comunidade moral exige a criação de um espaço de tolerância para evitar a violência simbólica que implica a negação de participar na comunicação afetiva da simpatia. (shrink)