About the Adam Smith Lesson
This lesson introduces students to Adam Smith.
• To be able to briefly describe the life of Adam Smith.
• To be able to explain the main concept in ?The Theory of Moral Sentiments.?
• To be able to describe some of the main theories of Adam Smith in ?The Wealth of Nations.?
Adam Smith was a philosopher, political economist, and is generally considered to be the father of modern economics.
He was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. His date of birth is unknown, but he was baptized in June 1723. His father died a few months before his birth, and his mother raised him and encouraged him to pursue an academic career.
At fourteen, he went to the University of Glasgow, where he studied moral philosophy. It was during that time that Smith took an interest in theories and concepts pertaining to reason and free speech. At seventeen, he received a scholarship and studied in Oxford. Though it was reported that he was very unhappy due to the restrictive intellectual atmosphere in Oxford, he was able to teach himself many subjects because of the large and extensive library at Oxford. It was also in Oxford that Smith read the work of David Hume, another Scottish philosopher.