Learning at AdamSmithWorks

Regular readers know that AdamSmithWorks is dedicated to the works and world of Scottish moral philosopher and pioneering economist Adam Smith. First and foremost, this web property is a place for learning; a site within which one can discover any number of things about any number of subjects, always in some way connected to something related to Adam Smith.

Indeed, this site emphasizes connections: across subjects, disciplines, historical eras, and continents. We discuss the market processes of organ donations for transplantation; the role of philosophy in a healthy patriotism; the meaning of a particular historical Jesuit to one Professor Smith of Glasgow.

Individual articles and essays bring you deeper into particular subjects. But the design of AdamSmithWorks as a whole tends to expose regular readers—and the whole AdamSmithWorks team—to a wide wealth of intellectual and practical resources.

Practical resources like, simultaneously historical and hands-on adaptations of eighteenth-century recipes, in our #WhatAdamSmithAte series. Or our piece on how to read a book “inspectionally,” like a professor. Such resources are supplemented by our pedagogical materials and lesson plans, intended to assist with teaching Adam Smith in a historically nuanced, non-ideological way.

Above all, the aim of this website is to continue the edifying conversations that Adam Smith participated in, recognizing that timeless ideas and debates often take different forms in different contexts and eras. We hope to help unpack these changes over time for readers of all education levels and backgrounds. Reflecting on the ideas, events, and debates of the past does not guarantee that we will experience better outcomes in the future—Smith understood that much in human life is beyond our own ability to control—but it probably does help us individually to make better decisions in those areas we enjoy significant agency. What’s more, studying across disciplines and ages tends to confer on the student a greater sense of serenity and peace than is possible to achieve immersed in the volatile and murky events of the present alone.

It is the hope of the editors of this website that all of our visitors, and especially our regular readers, will come to appreciate and share in the attitude of reflection and curious investigation that defines this space.

Ultimately, this site is not for us, but for you, the reading public. We thank you for continuing to play your indispensable role in what we do. Without your readership, discussion of our pieces, participation in our events, and submission of new essays and materials, AdamSmithWorks would not be the vibrant hub of history, philosophy, and intellectual exchange that it is today.

Here’s to you, friend, and to the continued success of AdamSmithWorks.

Related:

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