Reading Adam Smith in the 21st Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reading Adam smith in the 21st Century - Essay ExampleAdam smith was born in 1723 in a village called Kirkcaldy in Scotland. His family was influential his father the elder Adam Smith held several heavy positions at the time of his death in 1723. At the age of fourteen Smith entered Glasgow College where his teachers included among otherwise famous men, the great Frances Hutcheson. Smith was to discover and foster his talents and abilities in this college. John Rae (1895) in his biography of Smith titled The Life of Adam Smith stated that it was Hutcheson and later Hume who seem to have had the most crop on Smith. Hutcheson was an engaging and powerful speaker who animated Smiths mind. Hutcheson was one of a new breed of philosophers who were perceive to be radical in their thoughts and beliefs by the theological conservatives. In fact Rae credited Hutcheson with the development of Smiths psyches on natural liberty, the value of labor as the source of wealth etc.Soon after on a Snell scholarship Smith left for Oxford in 1740. In a strong contrast to Glasgow, the nimbus at Oxford was lax and lackadaisical. Smith found that Oxford, being wealthy through endowments had become inept as a result. Lecturers had no incentive to perform and the students were pretty much left to themselves to learn on their own. barely in the six years he spent there he kept himself busy in the first place by reading the ancient Greek and Latin classics. After graduating, Smith went back to Scotland. In 1750 he was appointed Professor of Logic at Glasgow College and a short while later shifted to the Chair of lesson Philosophy. It was while he was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow College that he wrote The surmise of Moral Sentiments in 1759, the book that he himself considered to be his finest accomplishment. The Theory of Moral Sentiments grounds beneficence as the basis of tender relationships and in the larger virtuoso of society itself. The book is believed to share Smiths own belief in calmness as well as the influence of Hutcheson. The Theory of Moral Sentiments demonstrates that Stoicism was an important part of the noetic make-up of Smith. Smith basically combined the stoic precept of self command with the Christian idea of benevolence. Much like the Stoics, Smith too prefigured the social bond among humans in terms of sympathy while the Stoic idea of world citizenship and self-command portend the role of Smiths impartial spectator (p.10). The Theory of Moral Sentiments tries to understand the function of moral behavior in society. Smith departed from Hutcheson and other philosophers in that tradition like Shaftesbury and Hume by defining motive as an essential element of moral behavior. Hutcheson had rejected that motive had anything to do with morality and instead claimed that man possessed a certain innate sense that propelled him to be moral. Smith makes motive an integral part of moral behavior arguing that people ofttimes loo k to the motives of a benefactor before bestowing their approval of a beneficent live up to. An act of kindness performed unknowingly without the motive to do good to anyone does not bring the same admiration and esteem that result when it is deemed that the action was performed with the knowledge that it would