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date: 15 December 2019

Abstract and Keywords

Thanks to several recent studies, we now understand better than ever the place that virtue has in Smith’s larger economic and political system, the sources on which he drew in developing his theory of virtue, and the ways in which his theory of virtue can contribute to illuminating various debates in contemporary ethical theory. In what follows I touch on each of these themes. My principal goal, however, is to provide a reconstruction of the essential elements of Smith’s theory of virtue in a manner that might be of use to those working on each of these fronts, as well as others.

Keywords: Adam Smith, virtue, ethics, self-love

Ryan Patrick Hanley

Ryan Patrick Hanley is Associate Professor of Political Science at Marquette University. He is the author of Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue (Cambridge University Press 2009), and the editor of the Penguin Classics version of The Theory of Moral Sentiments as well as the forthcoming Princeton Guide to Adam Smith (Princeton University Press). He is also the current president of the International Adam Smith Society.

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