Adam Smith on wealth and virtue

Edwin G. West reviews Adam Smith’s System of Liberty, Wealth and Virtue by Athol Fitzgibbons at The Independent Review.

"This book is an attack on the view that Adam Smith conceived of the science of economics after shelving moral considerations and wholeheartedly approving of the motivating force of self-interest. This view, which the author claims to be widespread among Nobel-prize-winning economists, rests exclusively on a superficial reading of The Wealth of Nations. Fitzgibbons argues that in Smith’s preceding book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, virtue, and not self-interest, was the most workable standard in life."

See Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, in Great Books of the Western World (first edition, 52 Vol., 1952) volume 39 and (second edition, 60 Vol., 1990) volume 36.