Liberty and Self-Command in Smith and Kant
ABSTRACT
This conference examined the ethical theories of Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant, with particular respect to the way in which each author conceives of liberty within a context of moral obligations to oneself and others and the tensions this may create.
READING LIST
From Liberty Fund
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
by
By Adam Smith
Edited by D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie
The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith’s first and in his own mind most important work, outlines his view of proper conduct and the institutions and sentiments that make men virtuous. Here he develops his doctrine of the impartial spectator, whose hypothetical disinterested judgment we must use to distinguish right from…
Additional Readings
Kant, Immanuel. The Metaphysics of Morals. Edited by Mary Gregor. Translated by Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.