Abstract
Abstract Contrary to the standard view, which sees Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations as unconnected, it is suggested here that the two books are bound together deeply, if implicitly, by way of the rhetoric Smith used in the Wealth of Nations to persuade his readers of the dignity of the poor. A theory of moral rhetoric is drawn from Smith’s account of sympathy in the Theory of Moral Sentiments, as well as some of his explicit remarks in his lectures on rhetoric, and then applied to passages in the Wealth of Nations. It is argued that the Wealth of Nations is an example of what Thomas Laqueur called a “humanitarian narrative,” and that it was written in amoral language for moral purposes: that it is in part a moral narrative that for that very reason abstains from moral judgment.
Published Version
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