Recent years have witnessed a renewed debate over the costs at which the benefits of free markets have been bought. This book revisits the moral and political philosophy of Adam Smith, capitalism's founding father, to recover his understanding of the morals of the market age. In so doing it illuminates a crucial albeit overlooked side of Smith's project: his diagnosis of the ethical ills of commercial societies and the remedy he advanced to cure them. Focusing on Smith's analysis of the psychological and social ills endemic to commercial society - anxiety and restlessness, inauthenticity and mediocrity, alienation and individualism - it argues that Smith sought to combat corruption by cultivating the virtues of prudence, magnanimity and beneficence. The result constitutes a new morality for modernity, at once a synthesis of commercial, classical and Christian virtues and a normative response to one of the most pressing political problems of Smith's day and ours.
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Introduction; 1. The problem: commerce and corruption; 2. The solution: moral philosophy; 3. Interlude: the what and the how of TMS VI; 4. Prudence, or commercial virtue; 5. Magnanimity, or classical virtue; 6. Beneficence, or Christian virtue; Epilogue.
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Reviews of the hardback: 'Ryan Patrick Hanley's excellent Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue succeeds in bringing a fresh perspective to the study of Smith's works. It offers a brilliant reinterpretation of Smith's moral philosophy that not only unifies Smith's work but offers larger lessons for us today. In an increasingly crowded field, Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue distinguishes itself as one of the most important books on Smith in more than a decade.' James Otteson, Yeshiva University
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This book revisits the moral and political philosophy of Adam Smith to recover his understanding of morality in a market age.
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780521449298
Publisert
2009-06-22
Utgiver
Vendor
Cambridge University Press
Vekt
480 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
17 mm
Aldersnivå
UP, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
242
Forfatter