Adam Smith

Born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1723, Adam Smith studied at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford. He later became a professor at Glasgow, where he taught moral philosophy and developed many of the ideas that would make him one of the most influential thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Smith first published The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759, exploring sympathy, conscience, and moral judgment. In 1776 he published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the book most closely associated with his name, which examined trade, labor, taxation, and the workings of commercial society.

Although he is often remembered mainly as an economist, Smith saw moral life, politics, and economics as closely connected. He died in Edinburgh in 1790, and his work continues to shape debates about capitalism, government, and human behavior.