Adam Smith: What He Thought and Why It Matters by Jesse Norman

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Adam Smith: What He Thought and Why It Matters by Jesse Norman: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - Adam Smith: What He Thought and Why It Matters by Jesse Norman, Episode 2

As the Scottish Enlightenment takes root, philosopher Adam Smith returns home from Oxford.

Philosopher and economist Adam Smith returns home from Oxford inspired to reflect on human nature and wider society. Read by Robin Laing.

On the 300th anniversary of the birth of Adam Smith, author Jesse Norman explores his life and captures the febrile surroundings of Enlightenment Edinburgh. Considering Smith’s legacy, he dispels the myths and debunks the caricatures that have grown around the economist in the centuries since he first presented his ideas. 

In 1746 Smith returns home from Oxford inspired by dazzling and subversive texts - such as Hume’s ‘Treatise of Human Nature’ - to reflect on human nature and wider society.

Abridged by Rosemary Goring 
Read by Robin Laing
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Jesse Norman is the Conservative MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and Minister of State in the Department for Transport.  Previous publications include a celebrated study of Edmund Burke, and his debut novel The Winding Stair, a historical thriller set in the Elizabethan court, was published in the summer.

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A succinct and engaging account of the life, times and legacy of economist Adam Smith.

Book of the Week. An engaging account of the life, times and legacy of Adam Smith marking 300 years since the birth of the Scottish economist. Read by Robin Laing.

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