Theology & Philosophy

Adam Smith, Liberty, and Responsibility: East and West

ABSTRACT

Via the comparison and contrast of Adam Smith's works with a variety of Classical Chinese sources, this conference explored the foundations of a spontaneously ordered free society in the Western and Eastern traditions.

READING LIST

From Liberty Fund

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (vol. 1)

by By Adam Smith
Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner
William B. Todd, Textual Editor

First published in 1776, the year in which the American Revolution officially began, Smith’s Wealth of Nations sparked a revolution of its own. In it Smith analyzes the major elements of political economy, from market pricing and the division of labor to monetary, tax, trade, and other government policies that…

/ Learn More

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (vol. 2)

by By Adam Smith
Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner
William B. Todd, Textual Editor

First published in 1776, the year in which the American Revolution officially began, Smith’s Wealth of Nations sparked a revolution of its own. In it Smith analyzes the major elements of political economy, from market pricing and the division of labor to monetary, tax, trade, and other government policies that…

/ Learn More

Additional Readings

Mencius. Mencius. Edited by D. C. Lau. New York and London: Penguin Classics, 1970, 2003.

Chuang Tzu. Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu. Translated by Victor H. Mair. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1994.

Confucius. The Analects. Translated by D. C. Lau. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1992.

Dorn, James A. “The Tao of Adam Smith.” The Cato Institute. http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/tao-adam-smith (November 15, 2013).

Laozi. Daodejing. Translated by D. C. Lau. New York and London: Penguin Books, 1963.

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Indianapolis: LibertyClassics, 1969, 1976.

Xunzi. Xunzi. Translated by John Knoblock and Zhang Jue. Changsha, Hunan: Hunan People’s Publishing House, 1999.