Smithian Morals

Smithian Morals takes up Adam Smith's thought on justice, virtue, propriety, beneficialness, liberty, God, and the conscience. Smith is pursued as exemplar, sage, moral guide, and therapist. Smith teaches us to think dialectically. At the center of Smith's thought Klein sees a robust affirmation: "allowing every man to pursue his own interest his own way, upon the liberal plan of equality, liberty, and justice." Smith teaches a presumption of liberty. The strength of that presumption is up to us. Smith's liberalism is outspoken to the point of abolitionism on particular issues, but in a broader sense it is conservative; it is an engaging, humane conservative liberalism. It emanates from a true moralist and his philosophy of virtue. Smith teaches a presumption of liberty not from first principles or purportedly self-evident propositions. He picks up midstream, mindful of the waters about all he treats and about his own weather-beaten vessel, for he is coursing upon the waters with us. As interpreter of Smith's texts, Klein is open about his tendencies toward classical liberalism, non-foundationalism, and esoteric reading.

Review :
Richard Whatmore, University of St. Andrews: "In 2023 Adam Smith will be 300 years old. There will be a very large number of ill-informed books about him being published in this special year. Smith-now that we are recovering the actual historical Smith-still has a great deal to say to us. Dan Klein knows this, understands Smith as well as any scholar and has a gift for communicating (understatement). Everything he publishes is accessible and significant. It is also worth saying that his public presence is remarkable and remarkably wide-ranging. He reaches audiences fellow academics simply cannot reach." Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago: "Klein is the rare economist who listens to what others say. In this he follows Smith, and with these volumes emerges as the sage's leading listener. He writes beautifully and with purpose, to bring us away from the Smith of left or right coercion and towards the Smith of what he calls "spiral," a vein of the Scottish enlightenment, and still therapeutic for our own troubled times." Knud Haakonssen, Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies: "Dan Klein's collection of papers represents an imposing body of work on Smith as an historical figure and as thinker of lasting relevance. The papers have an impressive range, which is what Smith's many-sided work requires. At the same time, there is a keen engagement with the scholarly and critical literature. Klein's writing is clear and direct. It is a pleasure to recommend the collection." Vernon Smith, Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, Chapman University: "Three centuries after his birth, Adam Smith was never more relevant and inspiring. Dan Klein's essays convey that inspiration in an accessible style reinforcing the relevance of this greatest of 18th century scholars." Thomas W. Merrill, American University: "Dan Klein has long been constructing a portrait of Adam Smith in his complexity-moving back and forth in a deepening spiral between Smith's policy recommendations, his rich phenomenology of ethical life, and even his reflections on our place in the cosmos. With this collection we can now see the richness of Klein's reading of Smith in synoptic view, both in the specificity of its parts and in the vision that animates the whole. Klein is a spirited and skilled advocate for liberalism in its original political sense. He sheds light on the presumption of liberty, the structure of justice, the spiraling complexity of ethical life, the subtlety of Smith's rhetoric, and Smith's religion. This work will be helpful to readers just coming to know Smith for the first time, and it certainly deserves the attention of scholars of Smith and of the history of liberalism. It enriches our sense of Smith even as we argue with it. It is an achievement worth celebrating." Douglas Den Uyl, Liberty Fund: "Dan Klein is one of the most distinctive and thorough interpreters of Adam Smith working today. His insights into Smith are both instructive and compelling. It would be of immense value to have many of these insights collected together, especially because so many of them are both of value and accessible to the scholar and general intelligent reader alike."