Our Great Purpose: Adam Smith on Living a Better Life

by Ryan Hanley

Overview

Invaluable wisdom on living a good life from the founder of modern economics

Adam Smith is best known today as the founder of modern economics, but he was also an uncommonly brilliant philosopher who was especially interested in the perennial question of how to live a good life. Our Great Purpose is an illuminating guide to Smith's incomparable wisdom on how to live well, written by one of today's leading Smith scholars. Full of invaluable insights on topics ranging from happiness and moderation to love and friendship, Our Great Purpose enables modern readers to see Smith in an entirely new light—and along the way, learn what it truly means to possess an excellent character and lead a worthy life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691216706
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	1,053,120
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Ryan Patrick Hanley is professor of political science at Boston College. His books include Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue and Adam Smith: His Life, Thought, and Legacy (Princeton).

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

I On Self-Interest 11

II On Caring for Others 15

III On Acting for Others 19

IV On Imagination 23

V On Bettering Our Condition 28

VI On Miseries and Disorders 32

VII On the Healthy Mind 36

VIII On Tranquility and Pleasure 40

IX On Worshipping Wealth 44

X On Friendship 49

XI On Pleasure 52

XII On Hatred and Anger 56

XIII On Being Loved 60

XIV On Loving 64

XV On Flourishing 69

XVI On Being Lovely 74

XVII On Seeing Ourselves 78

XVIII On Dignity 83

XIX On Equality 88

XX On Choice 92

XXI On Self and Others 96

XXII On Perfection 101

XXIII On Wisdom and Virtue 105

XXIV On Humility and Beneficence 109

XXV On Praise and Praiseworthiness 113

XXVI On Socrates 116

XXVII On Jesus 121

XXVIII On Hume 125

XXIX On God 130

Epilogue. Why Smith Now? 133

Table of Quotations 139

Texts and Further Reading 141

Notes 149

Acknowledgments 157

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A brilliant and original way to encounter Adam Smith—a book that will still be read in fifty years."—David Warsh, author of Economic Principals: Masters and Mavericks of Modern Economics

"Smith, as Ryan Patrick Hanley understands well, was a modern heir to the great classical search for the good life, as much a student of the soul as of modern commercial society. In translating him for our times, Hanley offers a gem of a book, a guide to a great thinker that is full of insights about the practical pursuit of living well."—Darrin M. McMahon, author of Happiness: A History

"There is a mode of teaching that explores the work of a great thinker by taking key passages and explicating their assumptions and implications. It's a form of learning that few of us get to experience firsthand. But in this book, a master expositor of Smith's moral philosophy provides us with just such an experience. Hanley guides us through Smith's ideas, and with insight and eloquence shows us the relevance of Smith's thought for the way we live our lives."—Jerry Z. Muller, author of Adam Smith in His Time and Ours: Designing the Decent Society

"Our Great Purpose is a short, engaging, and thoughtful exploration of Adam Smith's philosophy on how to live a good life, written by one of the world's preeminent Smith scholars."—Dennis C. Rasmussen, author of The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought

"An enjoyable read. Hanley simultaneously recovers the authentic Smith while providing ample evidence that commercial society may be vindicated not by acquisitiveness but by the praiseworthy lives it makes possible."—Eric Schliesser, author of Adam Smith: Systematic Philosopher and Public Thinker

Editorial Reviews

06/24/2019

Hanley (Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue), professor of political science at Boston College, explores how to live a good life using the work of Adam Smith as a guide—particularly his 1759 book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments—in this informative but unfocused work. Hanley argues that Smith, though best known as an economist, was a social theorist as well and was deeply concerned with how to live a happy and beneficial life. Hanley selects 27 quotations from Moral Sentiments and two from Smith’s better-known 1776 Wealth of Nations, strung together in no particular order to illustrate Smith’s thinking. Each quote is concerned with a single topic—with titles such as “On Self-Interest,” “On Jesus,” and “On Hume”—and is presented with Hanley’s brief paraphrase, which he follows with a longer analysis. Hanley makes it clear from the outset that he does not consider this volume either a scholarly endeavor or a self-help book, making it difficult to tell whom he expects his audience to be. Lacking sufficient analysis to be of interest to scholars or a convincing new case about how Smith’s thinking is relevant to today that might attract general readers, this will appeal only to devoted acolytes of Smith. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Ryan Patrick Hanley has provided a succinct, witty and informative work on the relevance of Adam Smith today, mercifully released from the old 'father of capitalism' misrepresentation. . . . An excellent primer on the true Smith."—-Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday

"[Adam] Smith had a way of pulling all aspects of human society together, from eating and drinking with friends to trading on the stock exchange. To separate them destroys the larger picture. . . . While Smith never advocated 'a single best way for all people to live,' . . . [he] deftly connected all human activity into a single, philosophical portrait, and Our Great Purpose makes a compelling case for us to study it closely."—-David J. Davis, Wall Street Journal

"An accessible, erudite, and concise introduction to Adam Smith in full, the moral philosopher of wisdom and prudence."—-Jordan Ballor

"

Hanley is a distinguished political scientist at Boston College who has specialized in Smith; here in thirty short chapters he concentrates his accumulated expertize to deliver an Ariadne’s thread to guide the reader through the multiple issues Smith introduces and explores. . . . This should be passed out to all beginning students of Economics.

"—-Patrick Madigan, Heythrop Journal

"An essential text of practical wisdom."—-David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer

"This excellent book deserves a wide audience and should be required reading for every college freshman."—-J. H. Spence, Choice Reviews

"A gem of a book, offering fresh insights into Smith’s writings and drawing holistic connections that make his philosophy come alive."—-Jonathan Wight, The American Economist

From the Publisher