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Signaling Adam Smith's System through “By the Same Author”

Caroline Breashears for AdamSmithWorksBreashears shows that there's always more to learn from Adam Smith - not only from the content of his writing but from the paratexts of his work as well. "Seeing Smith's paratextual materials, we recover some of the fullness of Smith’s outlook for human life in modern times."January 25, 2023

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Adam Smith on Polygamy and Kin Networks

Patrick Fitzsimmons for AdamSmithWorksWhat are the historical requirements for the emergence of stable liberal polities? Adam Smith suggests monogamous marriages as an important, steadying institution. "Families meet not on violent terms, but on civil and economic ones instead. The polity can focus on improving the polity, rather than fighting."December 28, 2022

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The British East India Company: Hero of Free Trade?

Walter Donway for AdamSmithWorksOver two centuries, the arguments of corporations for monopoly “remained remarkably static,” but the experience of the corporations brought to bear in the debate “certain moments of conceptual innovation that trading corporations spurred and shaped.” December 7, 2022

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Adam Smith Timeline Game: Scientific Innovations & Historic Moments

Adam Smith saw, described, and benefited from a variety of technological changes in his lifetime. In this activity, students create timelines of scientific innovations and historical events during the life of Smith. Sample cards for the activityThe lesson highlights economic concepts and could also be a great introductory activity for a unit on Technology & Innovation, or Entrepreneurship. 

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Adam Smith’s Space Odyssey

Erik W. Matson for AdamSmithWorksRendered illustration of Newton's Rotative Reflector TelescopeAdam Smith's “An Inquiry into the Principles which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries; Illustrated by the History of Astronomy.” is an adventure into reflection on the passional and aesthetic dimensions of scientific and philosophic practice. "As we participate in Smith’s passions, we can’t help but feel still higher levels of surprise, wonder, and admiration: surprise at the ending of Smith’s essay, wonder at the novelty of his ironic self-contradiction, and admiration for his genius. The sentiments encourage us to puzzle over Smith’s contrariety and arrive at a fuller sense of the purpose of his essay."November 23, 2022

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