Smithian Essays

This volume collects 36 recent essays, sixteen of which are coauthored. Many present Adam Smith's thinking, on such issues as: upside and downside, pride and vanity, the highest impartial spectator, why lords went for luxuries, why Britain should let the American colonies go, and why America's prospects were bright. The volume contains a major chapter on the adjective 'liberal' to describe the presumption-of-liberty policy sensibilities of himself and his friends, focusing on the period 1769 to 1824. Other topics include signs of untruthfulness, why the welfare state is devoid of generosity, Cicero's challenge, C.S. Lewis on patriotism, Burke as conservative liberal, and Hume and Smith as discreet proto-Darwinians. The final chapter, 'The Baby and the Bathwater,' suggests that the spirit of religion and the spirit of liberty stand and fall together.