Scottish Enlightenment moral philosopher whose Wealth of Nations founded classical political economy
Born in 1723 at Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland, he studied moral philosophy under Francis Hutcheson at Glasgow and went on to Balliol College, Oxford. In 1751 he became professor of logic at Glasgow and soon of moral philosophy, published The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and with David Hume became a central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. In 1764 he resigned to tutor the young Duke of Buccleuch on a European tour, then spent nearly ten years at Kirkcaldy on The Wealth of Nations (1776). Its account of how the division of labour, self-interest and competition produce prosperity became the starting point of modern economics, and his labour theory of value, refined by Ricardo and taken up by Marx, laid the ground of classical political economy. He became a commissioner of customs in Scotland in 1778 and died in Edinburgh in 1790.
Activities and affiliations
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1751–1764
United Kingdom state institutionsProfessor of logic and moral philosophy, University of GlasgowMain
Scholarship and theory -
1778–1790
United Kingdom state institutionsCommissioner of customs in Scotland
Economy, finance and planning
Career Timeline
- 1737Entered Glasgow; studied moral philosophy under Hutcheson
- 1740Balliol College, Oxford
- 1748Public lectures at Edinburgh
- 1751–1764Professor of logic and moral philosophy at Glasgow
- 1759The Theory of Moral Sentiments
- 1764–1766Tutor to the Duke of Buccleuch on a European tour
- 1776The Wealth of Nations
- 1778–1790Commissioner of customs in Scotland
- 1787–1789Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow