Adam Smith was once so lost in thought that he walked into a massive tanning pit while discussing free trade, requiring a rescue to get him out. This peculiar incident is just one of many that defined the life of the man who would become the father of modern economics. Born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1723, Smith was a figure of profound intellectual depth yet comical absent-mindedness in daily life. He never married, lived with his mother until her death, and spent much of his time talking to invisible companions or walking in his nightgown until church bells brought him back to reality. His personal papers were destroyed upon his death, leaving historians to piece together his character from the few surviving anecdotes and the works he left behind. Despite his eccentricities, Smith was a man of deep conviction who refused to explain the distribution of wealth and power through divine will, instead appealing to natural, political, social, economic, legal, environmental, and technological factors. His life was a testament to the power of ideas, even when the thinker himself seemed detached from the physical world around him.
Education And Early Struggles
In 1759, Adam Smith published The Theory of Moral Sentiments, a work he considered superior to his later economic treatise. The book explored how human morality arises from dynamic social relationships, focusing on the concept of mutual sympathy, which modern readers might understand as empathy. Smith argued that conscience develops through observing how others judge our behavior and imagining how we are perceived by an impartial spectator. This theory challenged the prevailing views of his time, which attributed moral sense to a special faculty or utility. Instead, Smith proposed that people seek approval from others, creating habits and principles of behavior that form the basis of conscience. The book was so successful that wealthy students from other countries traveled to Glasgow to study under him. It laid the foundation for his vision of humanity and society, emphasizing the role of sympathy in holding self-interest in check. This work remains a cornerstone of moral philosophy, offering a nuanced understanding of human nature that complements his economic theories.
In 1764, Smith resigned his professorship to tutor Henry Scott, the young Duke of Buccleuch,The Theory Of Moral Sentiments
a position that allowed him to travel extensively through Europe. He spent a year and a half in Toulouse, France, where he found the city somewhat boring and began writing a book to pass the time. The journey continued to Geneva, where he met the French writer and philosopher Voltaire, and then to Paris, where he encountered the American publisher and diplomat Benjamin Franklin. In Paris, Smith discovered the Physiocracy school founded by François Quesnay, which opposed mercantilism and advocated for laissez-faire economics. He was so impressed by their ideas that he might have dedicated The Wealth of Nations to them had Quesnay not died beforehand. The tour ended in 1766 when Henry Scott's younger brother died in Paris, and Smith returned to Kirkcaldy to devote the next decade to writing his magnum opus. These travels exposed him to the intellectual currents of Europe and deepened his understanding of economic systems, shaping the arguments he would later present in his most famous work.
Published in 1776,