A dam S mith, Ethicist

This essay argues that A dam S mith's political economy is premised upon a moral anthropology, and that greater attention to S mith from religious ethicists may both improve S mith scholarship and deepen dialogue on economic themes within the field of religious ethics. It does so first by surveying common readings of S mith and noting that engagement of his work within religious ethics and theology tends to rely on misconceptions prevalent in these readings. It then outlines the moral psychology that links S mith's T heory of M oral S entiments and W ealth of N ations and explains the importance of this moral psychology for S mith's ambivalent analysis of commercial society. Reflecting on the case of S mith's work, it concludes by arguing that attention from religious ethicists may also improve contemporary political economic debates, given that they are often premised upon latent assumptions about moral anthropology.