Speaker
Description
This paper presents my initial thoughts for a chapter in The Smithian Mind on Smith’s idea of good citizenship.
Smith is sometimes depicted as a prophet of a depoliticized liberal society, in which ordinary citizens can and even should limit themselves to obeying the laws and following their private interests, as his contemporary James Stewart more explicitly wrote. But Smithian citizenship demands more than that, or so I shall argue.
My exposition of Smithian citizenship will be divided into three parts: 1. Acting like a citizen - what Smithian citizens do, focusing on his principles of obedience and improvement; 2. Feeling like a citizen - unpacking the moral psychology of good citizenship, particularly the sentimental relation to fellow-citizens; 3. Living like a citizen - discussing the material bases of good citizenship and how commercial society supports or disrupts the practice of good citizenship.
| Organization | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
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