Adam Smith

David Williams (University of Sheffield)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Gina Lyle (University of York), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 1723
Died 1790
Activity 1759-1790

Places

Born in Scotland
Active in Scotland

Activities

Primary

Moralist
Philosopher
Political Economist

Resources

Smith's Works

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Adam Smith was born in 1723 in Kirkaldy. After completing his early education at the Burgh School, he moved to Glasgow in 1737 where he would remain as a student until 1740. It was at the University of Glasgow where he first came under the influence of Francis Hutcheson who held the Chair of Moral Philosophy. Hutcheson, the leader of the new spirit of liberal thinking that was soon to dominate intellectual life in eighteenth-century Scottish universities, made a deep and lasting impression on the young Smith. It was through Hutcheson that Smith first became acquainted with the work of David Hume, whose

Treatise of Human Nature

was published in 1739-40, and also with the work of the physiocrats, and in particular that of François Quesnay, the demographer and arguably the most…

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809 words

Citation: Williams, David. "Adam Smith". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 November 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4109, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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