Reviews for Politics and economics

The average rating for Politics and economics based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-05-24 00:00:00 Steven Burrows Fleischacker's On Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is an excellent companion, discussing the philosophical ideas of the Wealth of Nations in the context of Adam Smith's other works and his influences and contemporaries. It's hard to review a "philosophical companion," but a couple themes are worthy of note. Fleischacker dispels the alleged "paradox" of the different styles and tones of Theory of Moral Sentiments versus the Wealth of Nations, arguing that the sentimental moral philosopher shines through in the economic treatise if you understand Smith was writing for a different audience with different rhetorical tools. Fleischacker also presents compelling evidence for a "left-Smithian" interpretation, with egalitarian and humanitarian themes coming to the fore. He bases this on a persistent idea in Smith that ordinary people know their own good and can be trusted to further their own ends; and on Smith's frequent focus on the plight of the disadvantaged, whether factory workers or the poor more generally.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-01-23 00:00:00 Norma Fugate Dr. Fleischacker does a great job of really getting at what Smith is all about. Forget the straw man caricatures that have been created about this brilliant thinker, Fleischacker's work properly recognizes the moral philosophy imbued in Smith and attempts to reconcile that with his Economic theory. A great secondary source.