This volume features 19 original chapters on Adam Smith''s conception of modernity. The contributions demonstrate the relevance of Smith as the great interpreter of modernity 250 years after the publication of The Wealth of Nations.
The chapters in Part 1 focus on structural aspects of Smith''s work. They cover topics such as Smith as the theorist of a spontaneous order, the systematic dimension of Smith''s theoretical construction, and Smith''s role as a historian of economic thought. Part 2 addresses Smith''s conception of modern subjectivity between Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres, Theory of Moral Sentiments, and Wealth of Nations. Here the contributors consider the figure of the Smithian "merchant" and the importance of ridicule and satire for understanding modern civility, and comment on the role of sympathy, imagination, and moral judgement in developing a sense of self, the condition of the modern man in society, and the virtue of self
