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Complete Works of Adam Smith: Includes The Wealth of Nations, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and The Origin of Languages
Discover the intellectual legacy of Adam Smith, the Scottish economist and philosopher who laid the foundation for modern economics and political theory. "Complete Works of Adam Smith" is a comprehensive collection of Smith's groundbreaking writings, including the seminal "The Wealth of Nations." This collection encompasses his thoughts on the invisible hand, free markets, and the principles of classical economics. Delve into Smith's profound insights on the nature of wealth, economic theory and continue to shape our understanding of how societies function.
In these pages, you'll find not only "The Wealth of Nations," but also Smith's lesser-known works, essays, and correspondence. Explore his perspectives on the division of labor, the theory of moral sentiments, and his thoughts on the role of government in regulating trade. As you delve into these writings, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the intellectual giant whose ideas have had a profound influence on economic thought and political philosophy.
"Complete Works of Adam Smith" is an essential resource for scholars, economists, philosophers, and anyone interested in the origins of modern economics and political theory.
In these pages, you'll find not only "The Wealth of Nations," but also Smith's lesser-known works, essays, and correspondence. Explore his perspectives on the division of labor, the theory of moral sentiments, and his thoughts on the role of government in regulating trade. As you delve into these writings, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the intellectual giant whose ideas have had a profound influence on economic thought and political philosophy.
"Complete Works of Adam Smith" is an essential resource for scholars, economists, philosophers, and anyone interested in the origins of modern economics and political theory.
905 pages, Paperback
Published December 10, 2024
About the author
Adam Smith
1,555 books2,446 followersFor other authors of this name, see Adam Smith.
Adam Smith FRSA FRS FRSE was a Scottish philosopher and economist who was a pioneer in thinking on political economy and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. He wrote two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations , is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work that treats economics as a comprehensive system and as an academic discipline.
Authorities recorded his baptism on 16 June 1723 at Kirkcaldy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
Adam Smith FRSA FRS FRSE was a Scottish philosopher and economist who was a pioneer in thinking on political economy and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. He wrote two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations , is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work that treats economics as a comprehensive system and as an academic discipline.
Authorities recorded his baptism on 16 June 1723 at Kirkcaldy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
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April 17, 2026
Scottish Enlightenment thinker, Adam Smith (1723-1790), begins his philosophic opus, 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments', with the following words: “Howsoever selfish man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.”
• Mutual sympathy (empathy) and trust are the backbone of civilized society.
• As social animals, humans crave the approval of fellow men.
• Motives (sentiment of the heart from which any action proceeds), and ends (decency or indecency of the consequent action) both matter.
“Two different sets of philosophers have attempted to teach us the hardest lessons of morality. One set have labored to increase our sensibility to the interests of others; another, to diminish that to our own. The first would have us feel for others as we feel for ourselves. The second would have us feel for ourselves as we naturally feel for others. Both, perhaps, have carried their doctrines a good deal beyond the just standard of nature and propriety.”
“A young child has no self-command…. With a man of a little more firmness, the effect is somewhat more permanent… The man of real constancy and firmness, the wise and just man who has been thoroughly bred in the great school of self-command,… maintains his control of passive feeling upon all occasions, whether in solitude or society … He has never dared to forget the judgment which the impartial spectator would pass upon his sentiments and conduct… the degree of self-command which is necessary to obtain… self-approbation.”
• Prudence, justice, and beneficence are the sources of strength for self-command.
• The impartial observer of our motives, conduct, and ends – our conscience- guides us.
Adam Smith begins his economic opus, 'The Wealth of Nations', with a definition of what has become one of the most useful measures of the economic activity of a nation – its Gross National Product:
“The annual labor of every nation is the fund which supplies it with all of the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes, and which consists of the immediate products of the labor, or what is purchased with those products from other nations… therefore, as this produce (product), or what is purchased with it, bears a greater or lesser proportion to those who consume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with the necessities and conveniences for which it has need.”
• Division of labor, or specialization, is a primary factor in increasing productivity. Specialization, in turn, leads to interdependence of humans in modern society.
“The greatest improvements in the productive power of labor, and the greatest part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment, with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labor. The effects of the division of labor in the general business of society will be more easily understood by considering in what manner it operates in some particular manufactures.”
• Smith’s most famous example involved a factory that manufactured pins.
“The great increase in the quantity of work, which is in consequence of this division of labor, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances… increase in dexterity in every particular workman by reducing every man’s operation to one simple operation; saving of time in passing from one sort of work to another; and making this one simple operation the sole employment of his life…”
“Every man is rich or poor according to the degree to which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life. But after the division of labor has taken place, it is but a very small part of these with which a man’s own labor can supply him. The far greater part he must derive from the labor of other people, and he must be rich or poor according to the quantity of that labor which he can command or afford to purchase. The value of any commodity… is equal to the quantity of labor which it enables him to purchase or command. Labor is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities… The real price of everything… is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.”
• Adam Smith’s take on cost resonates with Henry David Thoreau’s aphorism, “The cost of something is the amount of one’s life that must be exchanged for it.”
• The invisible hand of the markets controls the distribution of goods and services in a capitalist society (compare to the centralized distribution system of the USSR).
• What makes the hand invisible are unanticipated, and often unintended, consequences of market forces in response to supply and demand.
• Because of trade and markets, manufacturers need to accumulate stock, by which Smith meant all equipment, supplies, and factories needed for production.
• It is a misreading of the Wealth of Nations to think Smith did not recognize a need for government intervention in terms of both monopoly control and public services like education.
• It is an extreme misreading of 'Wealth of Nations', and a misinterpretation of Adam Smith the man, to assume that, as the ‘father of capitalism’, he favored unrestrained selfishness.
• “The whole produce of the land and labor of every country… or the whole price of that annual produce, naturally divides itself… into three parts: the rent of the land; the wages of labor; and the profits of stock (the total accumulated resources, goods, and money owned by an individual or society)… this constitutes a revenue to three different orders of people: those who live by rent; those who live by wages; and those who live by profit…”
• Smith was aware of the potential to abuse the profit motive, and he asserted that those who earn revenue by profit often have motives and objectives that can be diametrically opposite to the public welfare.
• In Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations', duties and tariffs are largely the same thing—taxes imposed on imported goods. Smith treated these "high duties" and customs regulations as market distortions designed to create monopolies for domestic producers, arguing they hinder efficiency and national prosperity. While technically, duties can refer to any tax, and tariffs are specific to imports, Smith viewed them interchangeably as barriers to trade. One exemption Smith acknowledged is national defense.
• Unreasonable restraints – ‘balance of trade’ – “It is a losing trade that a workman carries on with an alehouse.” – It is far cheaper to buy one’s drinks from a retailer (pub or bar), than either from a wholesaler (brewery), or brew it himself, based on division of labor.
• Smith supported free trade with the colonies, not monopolistic trade. Smith opposed the monopolistic East India Company, and he supported the American colonists' desire for representation in Parliament. It was the tariff on the East India Company’s tea that moved the Sons of Liberty to have the famous Boston Tea Party.
Smith’s rhetorical question, “What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience?” is a nice summary of his life and work.
The 'Collected Works of Adam Smith' joins the books on my library shelves which required time, effort, and study for me to understand what the author was writing, and then wrestle with the ideas in my mind. I learned a great deal and feel more educated for having read it. Adam Smith joins Charles Darwin, Viktor Frankl, Sigmund Freud, William Harvey, David Hume, William James, and William Osler among my teachers, who have taught me through their writings.
• Mutual sympathy (empathy) and trust are the backbone of civilized society.
• As social animals, humans crave the approval of fellow men.
• Motives (sentiment of the heart from which any action proceeds), and ends (decency or indecency of the consequent action) both matter.
“Two different sets of philosophers have attempted to teach us the hardest lessons of morality. One set have labored to increase our sensibility to the interests of others; another, to diminish that to our own. The first would have us feel for others as we feel for ourselves. The second would have us feel for ourselves as we naturally feel for others. Both, perhaps, have carried their doctrines a good deal beyond the just standard of nature and propriety.”
“A young child has no self-command…. With a man of a little more firmness, the effect is somewhat more permanent… The man of real constancy and firmness, the wise and just man who has been thoroughly bred in the great school of self-command,… maintains his control of passive feeling upon all occasions, whether in solitude or society … He has never dared to forget the judgment which the impartial spectator would pass upon his sentiments and conduct… the degree of self-command which is necessary to obtain… self-approbation.”
• Prudence, justice, and beneficence are the sources of strength for self-command.
• The impartial observer of our motives, conduct, and ends – our conscience- guides us.
Adam Smith begins his economic opus, 'The Wealth of Nations', with a definition of what has become one of the most useful measures of the economic activity of a nation – its Gross National Product:
“The annual labor of every nation is the fund which supplies it with all of the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes, and which consists of the immediate products of the labor, or what is purchased with those products from other nations… therefore, as this produce (product), or what is purchased with it, bears a greater or lesser proportion to those who consume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with the necessities and conveniences for which it has need.”
• Division of labor, or specialization, is a primary factor in increasing productivity. Specialization, in turn, leads to interdependence of humans in modern society.
“The greatest improvements in the productive power of labor, and the greatest part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment, with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labor. The effects of the division of labor in the general business of society will be more easily understood by considering in what manner it operates in some particular manufactures.”
• Smith’s most famous example involved a factory that manufactured pins.
“The great increase in the quantity of work, which is in consequence of this division of labor, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances… increase in dexterity in every particular workman by reducing every man’s operation to one simple operation; saving of time in passing from one sort of work to another; and making this one simple operation the sole employment of his life…”
“Every man is rich or poor according to the degree to which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life. But after the division of labor has taken place, it is but a very small part of these with which a man’s own labor can supply him. The far greater part he must derive from the labor of other people, and he must be rich or poor according to the quantity of that labor which he can command or afford to purchase. The value of any commodity… is equal to the quantity of labor which it enables him to purchase or command. Labor is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities… The real price of everything… is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.”
• Adam Smith’s take on cost resonates with Henry David Thoreau’s aphorism, “The cost of something is the amount of one’s life that must be exchanged for it.”
• The invisible hand of the markets controls the distribution of goods and services in a capitalist society (compare to the centralized distribution system of the USSR).
• What makes the hand invisible are unanticipated, and often unintended, consequences of market forces in response to supply and demand.
• Because of trade and markets, manufacturers need to accumulate stock, by which Smith meant all equipment, supplies, and factories needed for production.
• It is a misreading of the Wealth of Nations to think Smith did not recognize a need for government intervention in terms of both monopoly control and public services like education.
• It is an extreme misreading of 'Wealth of Nations', and a misinterpretation of Adam Smith the man, to assume that, as the ‘father of capitalism’, he favored unrestrained selfishness.
• “The whole produce of the land and labor of every country… or the whole price of that annual produce, naturally divides itself… into three parts: the rent of the land; the wages of labor; and the profits of stock (the total accumulated resources, goods, and money owned by an individual or society)… this constitutes a revenue to three different orders of people: those who live by rent; those who live by wages; and those who live by profit…”
• Smith was aware of the potential to abuse the profit motive, and he asserted that those who earn revenue by profit often have motives and objectives that can be diametrically opposite to the public welfare.
• In Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations', duties and tariffs are largely the same thing—taxes imposed on imported goods. Smith treated these "high duties" and customs regulations as market distortions designed to create monopolies for domestic producers, arguing they hinder efficiency and national prosperity. While technically, duties can refer to any tax, and tariffs are specific to imports, Smith viewed them interchangeably as barriers to trade. One exemption Smith acknowledged is national defense.
• Unreasonable restraints – ‘balance of trade’ – “It is a losing trade that a workman carries on with an alehouse.” – It is far cheaper to buy one’s drinks from a retailer (pub or bar), than either from a wholesaler (brewery), or brew it himself, based on division of labor.
• Smith supported free trade with the colonies, not monopolistic trade. Smith opposed the monopolistic East India Company, and he supported the American colonists' desire for representation in Parliament. It was the tariff on the East India Company’s tea that moved the Sons of Liberty to have the famous Boston Tea Party.
Smith’s rhetorical question, “What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience?” is a nice summary of his life and work.
The 'Collected Works of Adam Smith' joins the books on my library shelves which required time, effort, and study for me to understand what the author was writing, and then wrestle with the ideas in my mind. I learned a great deal and feel more educated for having read it. Adam Smith joins Charles Darwin, Viktor Frankl, Sigmund Freud, William Harvey, David Hume, William James, and William Osler among my teachers, who have taught me through their writings.
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