Is Adam Smith an apologist for capitalism who viewed it as the fourth and
final stage of socio-economic development? Was Smith provoked into his
moral and economic defence of capitalism by Rousseau’s Second Discourse?
Much current Smith literature would suggest the answer to both questions is
yes. But, perhaps, questions like these indicate that something has gone
very wrong with our interpretations of Smith? Paul Sagar thinks so. We
explore what needs to change and why in this conversation about his newly
published and enjoyably iconoclastic Adam Smith Reconsidered: History,
Liberty and the Foundations of Modern Politics (Princeton, 2022).
Adam Smith Reconsidered | New Work In Intellectual History podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
