Social philosopher and political economist, baptized 5 June 1723 (Fife, Scotland), d. 17 July 1790 (Edinburgh).
Adam Smith was the son of a customs officer in a small Scottish fishing village; his mother was the daughter of a well-off landowner. He entered the university of Glasgow, the centre of the "Scottish Enlightenment", at the age of 14, graduated three years later in 1740 and received a scholarship to attend Oxford University. Compared to Glasgow, Oxford was steeped in stagnation, teaching only the Greek classics, and Smith, who was interested in contemporary philosophy, had to rely on self-study.
After six years Smith returned to Glasgow in 1746. Looking for employment, he gave a series of public lectures on a range of subjects. As a result the university appointed him professor of logic in 1751. In the following year Smith transferred to the more lucrative position of professor of moral philosophy. He gave his daily lectures in English (rather than Latin), but the lecture content was highly demanding for his class of 14 - 16 year old students.
In 1759 Smith published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. It raised the question that became a core element of his famous Wealth of Nations: How people "led by an invisible hand . . . without knowing it, without intending it, advance the interest of the society." Smith explained this through a theory of human nature: Human action is determined by the contradicting forces of passion, reason and capacity for sympathy. Passion drives self-interest, reason and sympathy lead to the acceptance of institutions and regulation of the general struggle.
The work made Smith's name well known. He received an offer from the chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister) Charles Townsend to become the tutor of his stepson for an annual remuneration significantly higher than his university salary, plus travelling expenses and a lifelong pension. Smith resigned from the university in 1763 and travelled with Townsend's stepson to France, where he met Voltaire and other philosophers of the French enlightenment. When one of the travelling party fell ill and died, Smith and his charge returned to London.
In 1767 Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Without financial woes he now concentrated on his major work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. The work gave Smith many admirers among the educated classes.
Smith now had no further plans for major study. In 1777 he was appointed commissioner of customs and of salt duties and informed his earlier employer that he no longer required his pension; but the offer to seize payment was declined. Smith was thus quite well of and lived a quiet life in Edinburgh.
Smith's fame as a social philospher remains undiminished today. His Wealth of Nations, the first great work of political economy, is remarkable for its ability to draw on meagre information and develop bold but correct generalizations. It has to be remembered that Smith lived in the age of pre-industrial capitalism and did not have the wealth of empirical evidence available to Marx and Engels a century later, yet Smith comes to very similar conclusions.
Smith did not encounter many examples of large industry and monopolies and therefore did not foresee the development of trade unions and socialist parties. In his analysis the development of a capitalist society is the result of the actions of individuals. This distinguishes the The Wealth of Nations from Marx' Das Kapital, which sees class struggle as the major driving force.
Heilbroner, R. L. (1995) Adam Smith. Encyclopaedia Britannica 15th ed.