The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas

by James Buchan

Celebrated author James Buchan on the widely known―but often misread―Scottish philosopher Adam Smith. Adam Smith (1723-1790) has been adopted by neoconservatives as the ideological father of unregulated business and small government. His "invisible hand" has become a commanding shorthand for politicians promoting laissez-faire economics, but Smith never used it in reference to free-market capitalism. Smith was a deeply moral man who considered himself a philosopher, not an economist. Drawing on twenty-five years of research, James Buchan renders an Adam Smith untainted by political and economic interests. This compelling narrative uncovers Smith's passionate commitment to develop an ethical theory essential to his vision of a just commercial society.

Genres: History, Economics, Biography, Philosophy, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published August 21, 2006

About the author

James Buchan is a Scottish novelist and historian who writes on aspects of the Scottish Enlightenment. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Reviews

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adam Smith had a strange head -- protruding teeth and an odd pendulum-tottering of his neck when walking.

He never used the "invisible hand" in any sense we now attribute to him.

His Theory of Moral Sentiments should be a more eternal and resonant text than the archaic pre-capitalist Wealth of Nations, which nobody reads and offers zero metaphors worthy of 2012.

This is a decent brief bio. You'll learn the above three things, also that spheroid causation-challenged David Hume was a chick-magnet.

[J.D. Steens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buchan’s biography tries to resurrect Smith’s reputation as a laissez faire economist. In particular, he says that the “invisible hand,” as a defining expression of Smith’s work, is not such at all because it’s used by Smith just “three times in the million-odd words of Adam Smith that have come down to us.” I’d say that this expression still captures - and captures well - Smith’s overarching theory, and that’s probably the reason it has had such currency.

Buchan starts out well by referencing Smith’s “The Theory of Moral Sentiments.” In that book, Smith says that we are not rational calculators who are driven by self-advantage, even at the expense of others if necessary. Rather, we are in Smith’s view sympathetic beings who, Hume-like, care about our interactions with others. It is true that each pursues their self-interest, but since we care via sympathy about what others think, we regulate ourselves to respect the interests of others as well as our own. In doing so, cooperation for mutual advantage is the norm, and it all works out for nations as well as individuals. Hence, with the emphasis on sympathy as the governing norm, there is this “invisible hand” at work that constitutes the essence of Smith’s theory.

The problem with Smith is Darwinian variability. We are not at all equal when it comes to the benign notion of sympathy. There’s not one human nature regarding this sympathy trait. There are, rather, twin poles of human nature. One pole is sympathetic other-regarding, much as Smith sees. The other is self-regarding only, void of sympathy. Both, as strategies, promote evolutionary survival. The former because one survives by being part of the group. The latter, combined with skill and strength, and deceit, succeeds by using others and the group for self-advantage. The problem with Smith’s theory is that the self-regard only tendencies, individually and when supported by group mores, unravel the benefits of cooperation, in favor of domination and manipulation. This is the reason for hierarchy, individually or collectively (e.g. white-based colonialism). While Smith, as Buchan points out, is well-intended and other-regarding by nature, his theory doesn’t match up so well with who we are from a Darwinian perspective.

[EunSeong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book certainly has its charms with the author sprinkling his own insight into the life of Adam Smith and his work, and it is written in an erudite fashion. Erudite, however, shouldn't mean dry and boring, which is how this slim volume reads. The author clearly has knowledge and depth in his subject, effortlessly weaving in both historical context and Smith's contemporaries in order to better understand the man and his work itself, but the prose made what could have been an excellent book into just an okay one.

[Clark · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me over a month to read this slim folio. A typical author can bore you in 500+ pages; a good author in 400 pages; a great author in 300 pages; a true master in but 200 pages. Buchan managed to do it in about 150 pages. Just glad for it to be over. Materials was arranged fairly haphazardly for such a short book, neither topically nor chronologically. Smith emerges as nearly a complete mystery--David Hume receives a better biographical treatment in the book than Smith. Buchan's either a pedantic ass or his sense of humor flies over my head. I concede the latter to avoid giving offense.

I picked up my copy for free at a Country Inns & Suites "Borrow-Read-Return" bookshelf. I got what I paid for.

[Manuel Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful study of the life and works of Adam Smith, best know his "The Wealth of Nations" and "The Theory of Moral Sentiments". A contemporary of Ben Franklin, whom me met, as well as Voltaire, Rousseau and Karl Marx, the book is well documented and referenced placing Mr. Smith squarely in that period just before and following both the American and French revolutions.
"Smith was always uneasy about a society that is forever gaping at the rich and fortunate at the expense of the wise and the kind". For those students of history and economics, I recommend it. It prompted me to purchase a copy of both "The Wealth of Nations" and "The Theory of Moral sentiments", each available on Barnes & Nobles Nook Books for .99 each.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good quick introduction to Adam Smith - a decent expansion from the material about his ideas I got in intro-level econ. While the material about his experiences lecturing at a Scottish university was interesting, the portion of the text that was concerned with his ideas left me feeling that I wasn't familiar enough with Smith's writing to evaluate some of the author's claims. It's not uncommon for me to find myself thinking that a given work of history or biography doesn't strike a sufficient balance between source material and and summary of or interpretation of source material.

[Gobasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the review of this book makes clear Smith considered himself a philosopher not an economist. I've read Smith's "Theory of Moral Sentiment" and hope to read "The Wealth of Nations". Buchan does a good job of showing how a few ideas taken out of context from "The Wealth of Nations" misrepresent and undermine Smith's ethical and moral philosophy. A short pithy book that will make you view with scepticism the next conservative who justifies austerity with laissez faire capitalism or "the invisible hand".

[Jeffrey Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a confusing read. Adam Smith led a fascinating life, but unfortunately it came across muddled in this work. I couldn't keep his itinerary straight from all the places he visited and some of the more important details were lost as a result of it.

The book was good in introducing a young Adam Smith to us, which was worth the read in and of itself, but I didn't get as much out of it as perhaps I thought I would have.

[M. Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine place to start on Adam Smith. Mainly a biography of the man rather than an exposition of his ideas, the book does a nice job of exploring Smith's intellectual/political context. Smith's relationship with David Hume and his role in the Scottish Enlightenment receive much deserved special attention. However, readers looking for an examination of the content of TMS and WON may want to look elsewhere.

[Dave Peticolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short biography of Smith, focusing on his two major works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and The Wealth of Nations.

[Mohd Rahman]

fine reading on Adam's Life.