Speaking of Smith Archives

What is Speaking of Smith?

March 3, 2021

What is "Speaking of Smith," and what can you expect to see here in the future?

How to Read a Book Inspectionally

February 28, 2021

Inspectional reading is a tool that can make us better readers, scholars, and lifelong learners.

Dear Adam Smith: Jr. High Betrayal

February 24, 2021

Adolescence can be a tricky time for friendships, but fortunately Mr. Smith has advice that can help young people "bear the tribulations of these years with graceful detachment."

Devoured by Wild Beasts or Drowned Like Puppies? With Markets, Neither

February 21, 2021

Adam Smith understood that prosperity decreases desperation and spares the lives of many infants, older persons, and vulnerable others who cannot participate directly in production. Have today's critics of markets forgotten this lesson?

What Adam Smith Ate: Lingering in Languedoc

February 17, 2021

Smithian Exchange Among Non-Human Animals

February 14, 2021

Smith wrote about the human propensity to "truck, barter, and exchange," but the modern science of animal behavior suggests that we are not exactly alone in this capability.

What Would Adam Smith Say About Love on Valentine's Day?

February 10, 2021

Remember, lovebirds: You don’t have to think that Adam Smith was cynical about your doe-eyes and snuggles.

Adam Smith, Monopolies, Intellectual Property, and the Blackest Black

February 7, 2021

What does a recent controversy in the world of art materials illuminate about Adam Smith's perspective on monopolies and intellectual property?

The Moon Phase Watch and Adam Smith’s Philosophy of History

February 3, 2021

Does Smith's philosophy of history give in to the apocalyptic temptation to "immanentize the eschaton"? A clue it does not is the moon phase watch.

Dear Adam Smith: First Job Interview

January 31, 2021

Can Adam Smith's advice about language and sympathy help set the novice interviewee at ease?

Adam Smith, Francis Fukuyama, and the Indignity of UBI

January 27, 2021

UBI does not speak to the demands of dignity, nor to the Smithian needs to be seen and respected.

What Adam Smith Ate: A Restaurant in Paris

January 24, 2021