IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rsocec/v64y2006i2p155-180.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adam Smith's Ethics and the “Noble Arts”

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan Wight

Abstract

Adam Smith's character-based ethical system lays the foundation for his vision of the social and economic good. Within this system, the arts perform a critical role. Smith's essays “Of the Imitative Arts” and his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres are useful companions to The Theory of Moral Sentiments in analyzing the mechanisms whereby literature and the arts excite moral development. The arts stretch the boundaries of imagination and perspective, stimulating self-awareness and self-reflective growth. When combined with rational thought, decision-making takes place through an internal dialogue in which this wider perspective weighs upon one's “impartial spectator” and becomes the background for action. According to this view, the arts provide positive externalities for society and should be encouraged through public policy. The arts promote a conversation that becomes part of the common goods of society, including that of science.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Wight, 2006. "Adam Smith's Ethics and the “Noble Arts”," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 64(2), pages 155-180.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:64:y:2006:i:2:p:155-180
    DOI: 10.1080/00346760600721114
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760600721114
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00346760600721114?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jerry Evensky, 1993. "Retrospectives: Ethics and the Invisible Hand," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 197-205, Spring.
    2. McCloskey, Donald N, 1983. "The Rhetoric of Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 481-517, June.
    3. Garaventa, Eugene, 1998. "Drama: A Tool for Teaching Business Ethics," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 535-545, July.
    4. Jeffrey T. Young, 1997. "Economics as a Moral Science," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 842.
    5. James E. Hartley, 2001. "The Great Books and Economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 147-159, January.
    6. Spencer J. Pack, 1991. "Capitalism as a Moral System," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 346.
    7. Michael Wattsee, 2002. "How Economists Use Literature and Drama," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 377-386, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Changing Lives through Literature
      by Jonathan B. Wight in Economics and Ethics on 2012-02-17 20:01:24

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Schliesser, Eric, 2011. "Reading Adam Smith after Darwin: On the evolution of propensities, institutions, and sentiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 14-22, January.
    2. Mark White, 2010. "Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant: On Markets, Duties, and Moral Sentiments," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 39(1), pages 53-60, April.
    3. Jonathan B. Wight, 2011. "Ethics and Critical Thinking," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Fazekas, Károly, 2016. "Tisztesség, empátia, közgazdaságtan [Honour, empathy and economics]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1120-1141.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scott Drylie, 2020. "Professional Scholarship from 1893 to 2020 on Adam Smith’s Views on School Funding: A Heterodox Examination," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 17(2), pages 350–391-3, September.
    2. Whittaker, Julie, 2011. "The evolution of environmentally responsible investment: An Adam Smith perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 33-41.
    3. Cecil E. Bohanon & Michelle Albert Vachris, 2011. "Economics and Literature: The Gains from Trade," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 21, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:1:y:2007:i:2:p:1-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Nava Ashraf & Colin F. Camerer & George Loewenstein, 2005. "Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 131-145, Summer.
    6. Charles Wilber, 2004. "Ethics, human behavior and the methodology of social economics," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 19-50, March.
    7. Wilfred Dolfsma, 2001. "Economists as subjects: Toward a psychology of economists," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 77-88, March.
    8. Petrick, Martin, 2004. "Can Econometric Analysis Make (Agricultural) Economics A Hard Science? Critical Remarks And Implications For Economic Methodology," IAMO Discussion Papers 14911, Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    9. J. Kornai., 2002. "The System Paradigm," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 4.
    10. Suzuki, Tomo, 2003. "The accounting figuration of business statistics as a foundation for the spread of economic ideas," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 65-95, January.
    11. Craig Smith, 2016. "All in the best possible taste: Adam Smith and the leaders of fashion," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 597-610, August.
    12. Graupe, Silja & Steffestun, Theresa, 2018. ""The market deals out profit and losses": Wie ökonomische Standardlehrbücher das unreflektierte Denken in Metaphern fördern," Working Paper Series Ök-38, Cusanus Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung, Institut für Ökonomie.
    13. Kurt Dopfer, 2013. "Economics with a Phylogenetic Signature," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2013-06, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    14. Maurice Doyon & Stéphane Bergeron & Lota Tamini, 2017. "Policy relevance of applied economist: Examining sensitivity and inferences," CIRANO Working Papers 2017s-12, CIRANO.
    15. Jonathan B. Wight, 2005. "Adam Smith and Greed," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 21(Fall 2005), pages 46-58.
    16. Hendrik P. van Dalen, 2003. "Pluralism in Economics: A Public Good or a Public Bad?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-034/1, Tinbergen Institute, revised 18 May 2004.
    17. Hendrik P. van Dalen, 2019. "Values of Economists Matter in the Art and Science of Economics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 472-499, August.
    18. Luzar, E. Jane, 1990. "Environmental Hazards Of Farming: Thinking About The Management Challenge: Discussion," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 22(1), pages 1-3, July.
    19. repec:lan:wpaper:470 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. De Geest, Gerrit, 1996. "The debate on the scientific status of law & economics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 999-1006, April.
    21. John H. Cochrane, 2017. "Macro-Finance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(3), pages 945-985.
    22. Sujai Shivakumar, 2003. "The Place of Indigenous Institutions in Constitutional Order," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 3-21, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:64:y:2006:i:2:p:155-180. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RRSE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.