Revisiting the "father of capitalism"

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2023

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing talks with Glory Liu, the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism. Smith is most well-known for being the “father of capitalism,” but as Liu points out in her book, his legacy has been misappropriated — especially in America. They discuss his original intentions and what we can take away from his work today. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Glory Liu (@miss_glory), author; lecturer, Harvard University References: Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism by Glory Liu (Princeton; 2022) Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life by Nicholas Phillipson (Yale; 2012) Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton & Rose Friedman (Harcourt; 1980) “Adam Smith’s ‘History of Astronomy’ and view of science” by Kwangsu Kim (Cambridge Journal of Economics v. 36; 2012) Works by Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations (1776) Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) Lectures on Jurisprudence (1763) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Capitalism can feel all-encompassing.
0:06.9	The free market, the division of labor, the mysterious invisible hand.
0:12.8	If you live in a capitalist society long enough, you stop seeing this system for what it
0:18.0	is, an invention.
0:22.1	And one that sprung out of a very different context.
0:32.4	Adam Smith was an 18th century Scottish philosopher, and he wrote the landmark 1776 book The
0:39.5	Wealth of Nations, which you've almost certainly heard of.
0:44.2	But this work was a lot more nuanced than the sloganized tropes that you might know from
0:49.4	it.
0:51.0	At the heart of Smith's capitalist vision was his criticism of a different system, mercantilism,
0:57.1	which felt like the all-encompassing economic system of his day.
1:06.7	In fact, Smith, the so-called father of capitalism, really thought of himself as a moral philosopher
1:13.6	first, and he thought of a 1759 book theory of moral sentiments as his real magma opus.
1:21.3	So why do we remember Adam Smith as some kind of capitalist champion?
1:28.9	I'm Sean Elling, and this is The Grey Area.
1:44.6	My guest today is Glory Liu.
1:46.8	She's a lecturer at Harvard and the author of Adam Smith's America, how a Scottish philosopher
1:52.2	became an icon of American capitalism.
1:56.4	Liu tells the story behind the story of Smith.
2:00.7	Her book is, of course, about Smith's ideas, but it's really about how his legacy has
2:06.8	been used and abused in America for all kinds of political and ideological reasons.
2:14.2	Her work is part of a broader scholarly effort to revisit Smith in light of all this revisionism.
	...

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