Smith’s Published Works
Being a renowned economist and
warranting himself the title of “The
Father of Economics”, he earned his
title through the publishing of two of
his books which are considered to be
his most classic works.
The first two of his most famous books
are The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Published in 1759, Smith made sure
to revise the content of this book right
until his death, believing that this
book is the more superior of his two
famous works. The Theory of Moral
Sentiments gave way to the ethical,
philosophical, psychological, and
methodological foundations for his
later works.
Using the knowledge bestowed upon
him by his mentor Francis Hutcheson
of the University of Glasgow, Smith
critically analyses the moral thinking
of his era, explaining the source of
mankind’s ability to form moral judgment
despite being born with no moral
sentiments at all.
The second of his two classic works is
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes
of the Wealth of Nations, more commonly
known by its shortened title,
The Wealth of Nations. Considered by
many to be his magnum opus, it was
published in 1776 and is said to be the
first collection of extensive descriptions
concerning the elements that
build a nation’s wealth.
Given that this book was written at the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution,
Smith gave insight into broad topics
on the developing economy of the
time such as the growth of wealth and
prosperity to the division of labour.
Some of his other lesser-known works
include the Lectures on Jurisprudence
which is a compilation of notes taken
from his early lectures by which the
civil government should be directed.
After his death in 1790, another work
was published under his name posthumously
in 1795 called Essays on
Philosophical Subjects which consists
of material which Smith planned to
publish but was not prepared at the
time of his passing.
The first edition of The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776.
The Legacy of The Father of Capitalism
It’s hard to understand the most
important contributions that Adam
Smith has made. He has done plenty
of insightful observations and it is difficult
to rank them from the top to the
bottom. He foreshadows many of the
ideas that underpin modern economics.
Smith has very important things to
tell us now about an enormous range
of issues and how to think about those
issues.
He has implications for thinking in
moral reflection, moral philosophy,
and moral psychology in the political
economy. Smith has a good claim to
be considered as the founder of sociology
just as he does as the founder
of political economy. His theory of
human nature, socio-sociality is the
notion of Smith’s work from a model
that assumes the primary human
motivation is some form of material
self-interest.
Smith thinks very hard in the Theory
of Moral Sentiments about the nature
of human beings and the interaction
they have with each other. He tells
enormously persuasive and interesting
simple stories about humans such as
how humans actually interact and generalises
the kind of human experience.
In the political economy, he explains
SASARAN EDISI 82 137