Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment

Charles Griswold has written the first comprehensive philosophical study of Smith’s moral and political thought. Griswold sets Smith’s work in the context of the Enlightenment and relates it to current discussions in moral and political philosophy. Smith’s appropriation as well as criticism of ancient philosophy, and his carefully balanced defence of a liberal and humane moral and political outlook, are also explored. This is a major philosophical and historical reassessment of a key figure in the Enlightenment that will be of particular interest to philosophers and political and legal theorists, as well as historians of ideas, rhetoric, and political economy.