ADAM SMITH’S ENLIGHTENED WORLD

Commerce, morality, equality, the rule of law, and the role of government… Welcome to the world of Adam Smith.

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The Great Antidote

Speaking of Smith is a blog that explores the ideas, legacy, and relevance of Adam Smith.

Speaking of Smith

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Andrzej Frycz Modzrewski’s Proposals for Public Education Reform in On Improving the Republic

January 21, 2026 Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski’s ideas about education reform are quite similar to those presented by later classical liberal thinkers, particularly Adam Smith. These similarities shed light on deeper connections between republican and classical liberal ideas. 

Adam Smith’s Book on Jurisprudence: An Appreciation of The Wealth of Nations

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations .  The Wealth of Nations was literally world-changing.  It was one of the first systematic explorations of what we now call economics, and the breadth of the work is global.

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations: Spending, Taxing, and Debt

In this, our ninth episode, Mike Munger walks us through Book Five of The Wealth of Nations to map a state that defends, adjudicates, and builds wisely, then pays for it without killing growth. From militias to standing armies, fee-based courts to salaried judges, turnpikes to basic schooling, and taxes to debt, we test what holds up now.

Explore.

An Animal That Trades

A five-part short video series on the life and contemporary relevance of Adam Smith.

The Smith Questionnaire

The Smith Questionnaire Watch as we subject some of our favorite scholars to some silly questions about Smith.

Part 5: The Role of Authority

This short video explores Adam Smith’s view of government power: when authority is necessary, how it can overreach, and the unintended consequences that follow. It highlights Smith’s ideas on justice, public works, and innovation—while posing sharp questions about the role of authority today. 

Learn.

Adam Smith Versus the Physiocrats: British Empiricism Versus French Rationalism

July 10, 2025 "[Smith's] method endures because it aligns with human complexity. It withstands ideological fads because it reflects the world we live in." 

Artificial Sociality

August 6, 2025 ...what we would be asking about robots is, do (can) robots ever imagine another’s circumstances so as to enter into those circumstances and any of the existent sentiments associated therein? 

Equality, Wealth, and Power and the Need for Civil Government in Adam Smith, Part 1

November 4, 2025 How can political equality last in a world of economic inequality? Adam Smith's answer rests on analytical egalitarianism, where institutional design ensures competition, justice, and broad participation in governance. Jimena Hurtado explains in this two-part series. 

Equality, Wealth, and Power and the Need for Civil Government in Adam Smith, Part 2

 November 11, 2025 How can political equality last in a world of economic inequality? Adam Smith's answer rests on analytical egalitarianism, where institutional design ensures competition, justice, and broad participation in governance. Jimena Hurtado focuses on the American colonies in the final part of this two-part series. 

Adam Smith Hopes for America, Part 2

September 17, 2025 Loughran and Klein argue that Adam Smith’s optimism is due to the dovetailing of the principles behind that contrivance with his own notions regarding good governance. 

Friendship in Aristotle and Adam Smith

June 14, 2023 "Their treatments of friendship differ mainly because their works have different objectives and unequal foundations... Despite these differences, however, both Aristotle and Adam Smith give accounts of friendship that are far more robust and generous than those of most other authors. Recognising its importance to a good life, both take friendship seriously."

Teach.

AdamSmithWorks Lesson Plans

Original, classroom-ready activities to use with your students TODAY.

Prices Toolkit

Explore prices, starting with Adam Smith. 

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Lectures on Jurisprudence

Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence, originally delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1762–1763, presents his “theory of the rules by which civil government ought to be directed.” The chief purpose of government, according to Smith, is to preserve justice; and “the object of justice is security from injury.” The state must protect the individual’s right to his person, property, reputation, and social relations.