To all you Adam Smith fans, you may be interested in the following announcement from the Adam Smith Institute UK ADAM SMITH STATUE: The Edinburgh city authorities have granted us planning permission to erect a 20-foot statue of Adam Smith, pioneering economist and author of The Wealth of Nations, in the heart of Edinburgh, where he worked and died. It will be on a very impressive spot in the Royal Mile, near the Mercat Cross, looking down towards the Canongate where Smith is buried. Now we begin the task of raising the money (a lot!) needed to create and erect such a monumental work. We're asking groups and individuals to pledge for a $10,000 share in the project, which confers special benefits. But we are delighted to accept smaller contributions to make this world monument to a truly great Scot become a reality. Please help by visiting: http://www.adamsmith.org/statue/ It's about time the great man was honoured in such a way.
Yes, it is good news that Adam Smith is to be recognised in Edinburgh with a fine statue (though the one illustrating the piece in the Adam Smith Institute's announcement is a copy of a statue that bears ro relation to the Adam Smith his other contemporary images portray - the ASI illustration looks more like a continental dandy than an 18th century Scottish professor) and I hope the fund finds the money to erect it. However, I also wonder which Adam Smith the statue is going to commemorate: the so-called 'high priest of capitalism' (a word or phenomenon he never knew or wrote about), exponent of laissez faire, words he never used, and a believer in a minimalist state (his Wealth of Nations nails that myth), or will it remember the moral philosopher, the believer in the traditional commercial society of ancient Rome, the sympathiser of the common labourers and their families, the supporter of the republican virtues of government (rule of law, elections, separation of powers, liberty), and sympathiser of the American colonists? I give my own answer to these andither questions about the man in my forthcoming book, "Adam Smith's Lost Legacy", to be published by Palgrave Macmillan, in London in early 2005.
He, he, it was directed at you Adam, and of course, in jest! Funny - Prof Kennedy must have posted at exactly the same time I did. Cheers, George
I, for one, look forward to your worthy contribution to our understanding of the great man. I am just reading his work "The Theory of Moral Sentiments". For the general reader, his work is hard to understand, due to the nature of most eighteenth century writing. I would welcome someone to take hold of this work, paraphase it, shorten it and make it accessable to a wider readership. It is wonderful work. I think if I ever had a choice of guests to an ideal dinner party, I would invite Adam Smith and David Hume.
Yes, it is good news that Adam Smith is to be recognised in Edinburgh with a fine statue (though the one illustrating the piece in the Adam Smith Institute's announcement is a copy of a statue that bears ro relation to the Adam Smith his other contemporary images portray - the ASI illustration looks more like a continental dandy than an 18th century Scottish professor) and I hope the fund finds the money to erect it. You're quite right, Professor; no resemblance whatsoever.
"I am just reading his work "The Theory of Moral Sentiments". For the general reader, his work is hard to understand, due to the nature of most eighteenth century writing. I would welcome someone to take hold of this work, paraphase it, shorten it and make it accessable to a wider readership. It is wonderful work." Yes, Moral Sentiments is 'difficult', though it is not the 18th century writing (Smith was a great stylist and reads well) so much as he addresses an 18th century debate on issues that are not often discussed today. The big issue was that the spread of a revived commercial society raised moral issues (virtue versus Mammon) in a time of strict adherence to religious explanations(and exhortations) and a lot of intolerance of dissent (a problem David Hume had with the zealots and of whom Smith was always wary). Should you send me your e-mail address I would be able to send you an electronic file of my chapters on Moral Sentiments that may open to door to an introduction to what Smith was saying in that debate. The manuscript is currently being copy edited by the publisher and when I receive it back (in about a month)and have incorporated their suggestions, I could send you the finished electronic files of those chapters for your personal reading.
Should you send me your e-mail address I would be able to send you an electronic file of my chapters on Moral Sentiments that may open to door to an introduction to what Smith was saying in that debate. The manuscript is currently being copy edited by the publisher and when I receive it back (in about a month)and have incorporated their suggestions, I could send you the finished electronic files of those chapters for your personal reading. Thank you, Professor Kennedy, that is most kind of you. I would be delighted to receive the chapters on the Moral Sentiments. I am not an electronic buff, or can be bothered to try and work out how to communicate with you directly through this site, so you may send all correspondence to my email at: [email protected] Again, thank you for this kindness and I look forward to what promises to be some delightful reading.
AS Your e-mail address does not work in four combinations I tried. Please send me a message: [email protected] Thanks
Along somewhat similar lines, Professor Kennedy, please check your private messages for one from me. Thank you. Uncle Janko
