The Author

Adam Smith, economist and philosopher, was born in Kirkcaldy (Scotland), in 1723. His life was uneventful and "no woman, excepting his mother, ever played a role in his existence" (Joseph Schumpeter). At Glasgow University he became a Professor of Logic (1751) and Moral Philosophy (1752-63). As a tutor to the Duke of Buccleuch he traveled the Continent in 1764/66. In 1776 he moved to Edinburgh as Commissioner of Customs for Scotland. He died there, in 1790. He is considered as the father of modern economic theory. The basic doctrine of The Wealth of Nations is that labour is the only source of a nation's wealth.

The Work

The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes

of the Wealth of Nations (1776)

Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1795)

||| The Principles which lead and direct Philosophical Enquiries, illustrated by the History of Astronomy.
||| The Principles which lead and direct Philosophical Enquiries, illustrated by the History of the Ancient Physics.
||| The Principles which lead and direct Philosophical Enquiries, illustrated by the History of the Ancient Logics and Metaphysics.
||| Of the Nature of the Imitation which takes place in what are called the Imitative Arts.
||| Of the Affinity between certain English and Italien Verses.
||| Of the External Senses.

Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms,

reported by a student

Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres,

reported by a student

Memor to Lord North on the American Revolution
Letters

Appendix

Sources/Colophon