The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society: Adam Smith's Response to Rousseau

by Dennis C. Rasmussen

Book Overview

Adam Smith is popularly regarded as the ideological forefather of laissez-faire capitalism, while Rousseau is seen as the passionate advocate of the life of virtue in small, harmonious communities and as a sharp critic of the ills of commercial society. But, in fact, Smith had many of the same worries about commercial society that Rousseau did and was strongly influenced by his critique.

In this first book-length comparative study of these...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0271033495
• ISBN13: 9780271033495
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"