Adam Smith infused the expression “impartial spectator” with a plexus of related meanings, one of which is a super-being, which normally would aptly take the definite article the, and which bears parallels to monotheistic ideas of God. As for any genuine, identified, human spectator of an...

This article addresses the question of whether sanctions constitute violence in the broad sense of that term, and whether, and under what conditions, sanctions can be justified. The sanctions imposed against Iraq and Cuba are discussed as case studies and several ethical theories are applied to...

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was an economist and journalist. A member of the French Liberal School, he is best known for his free trade ideas and his philosophy of law. Mark Blaug ranks him as one of the 100 greatest economists before Keynes. Schumpeter called him a brilliant economic...

Frederic Bastiat, who was born two hundred years ago, was a leader of the French laissez-faire tradition in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was influenced by Cobden's Anti-Corn Law League and became a convinced free trader. Joseph Schumpeter described Bastiat as 'the most brilliant...

The essays in this volume offer a reassessment of Jeremy Bentham's strikingly original legal philosophy. Early on, Bentham discovered his “genius for legislation” — “legislation” included not only law making and code writing, but also political and social institution building and...

Alasdair MacIntyre argues that the Enlightenment ideology, which includes Adam Smith's moral theory, lacks any sense of telos and will, therefore, fail in the long run. This article accepts MacIntyre's challenge and examines Smith's moral philosophy arguing that Smith did not completely discard...

This paper challenges the commonly held view that Smith's moral theory is a subjectivist theory. Smith's test for goodness and rightness - for propriety - is not the approbation of an impartial spectator, but the warranted approbation of such a spectator. Something is right or good not because...

The 1790 edition of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments presents significant changes from the 1759 edition. In the 1790 edition Smith seems critical of the moral consequences of commerce. By focusing exclusively on the approbation generated by showing off material possession, I propose...

In the field of business ethics, Adam Smith has generally been viewed with a measure of suspicion. Smith's famous invocation of the invisible hand - according to which self-interest promotes the greater good - has generally been seen as a fundamental challenge to a discipline committed to the...

Adam Smith’s version of Virtue Ethics can be traced directly back to Plato (Socrates) and Aristotle. Smith basically skipped Aquinas and Augustine because they were also Catholic theologians, as well as philosophers. Referencing them would not have been looked upon kindly by the Scottish...