Leonidas Montes

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez · Escuela de Gobierno

This paper investigates the rather neglected relevance of persuasion in Smith's corpus and its foundational character. Smith's permanent and comprehensive concern with persuasion pervades his entire legacy. But, fully aware of the risks of this strong 'human desire' or 'instinct' to 'lead and direct other people', Smith develops what can be labelle...

This essay describes the main circumstances, facts and consequences of Milton Friedman’s two visits to Chile, in 1975 and 1981. Both visits are analyzed and the relationship between economic freedom and political liberty developed by Friedman is emphasized

Berry Christopher J., The Idea of Commercial Society in the Scottish Enlightenment (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013), pp. 266, $120. ISBN 978-0748-64532-9. - Volume 37 Issue 3 - Leonidas Montes

There is general consensus that in economics Adam Smith is, in the words of Jevons, the ‘father of the science’. In this setting it has regularly been argued that neoclassical and modern mainstream economics carry through the methodological impetus brought into the discipline by Smith. Moreover, economists conventionally take it for granted that Sm...

F. A. Hayek visitó Chile en dos ocasiones, en 1977 y 1981. Ambas visitas fueron polémicas. En su primer viaje se reunió con Pinochet. Esto dio pie para que se especulara en torno a su influencia en la Constitución de 1980. Después de cada visita Hayek se quejó porque la prensa extranjera no entregaba una imagen justa de la situación económica. Este...

F. A. Hayek took two trips to Chile, the first in 1977, the second in 1981. The visits were controversial. On the first trip he met with General Augusto Pinochet, who had led a coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973. During his 1981 visit, Hayek gave interviews that were published in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio and in which he discussed...

La literatura especializada reconoce la influencia de Newton en la obra de Adam Smith. Pero la naturaleza de esta influencia no ha sido tratada con la debida atención. En este ensayo argumentaré que la metodología científica de Newton no necesariamente corresponde a lo que comúnmente llamamos newtonianismo. Después de analizar el enfoque metodológi...

Scholarly research acknowledges Newton's influence on Adam Smith. However, the nature of this influence has not been carefully treated. I argue that Newton's scientific methodology does not necessarily correspond to what we commonly call Newtonianism. After analyzing Newton's methodological approach, I study how Smith understood Newton. Adam Smith...

While Newton's influence on Adam Smith has been widely acknowledged, there is scant research on the actual nature of this influence. This paper sums up a line of investigation delving into this issue. After a short introduction, it is argued that Newton's methodology is more complex than a merely positivistic interpretation. Then the context of New...

The famous Das Adam Smith Problem, which questions the consistency issue between The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (WN) is still relevant for anyone attracted to Smith scholarship. Although there is agreement that both works are consistent and, furthermore, parts of an incomplete...

This volume, sponsored by the European Society for the History of Economic Thought, was shaped at the University of Bologna where earlier drafts of the 16 essays it contains were presented at a Conference on institutions, markets and the division of labor. Like any collection of essays, especially if they come after a conference, the quality of the...

Adam Smith in Context delves into some central components of Smith’s thought, especially his moral philosophy, and challenges some commonly shared views. It combines philosophical, historical, methodological and economic issues of Smith’s legacy, uncovering original interpretations of what Smith really said. It is an important contribution for thos...

This book is the result of an intellectual journey, an expedition which has led me into an area that I would describe as the history of ideas, an interdisciplinary pursuit that includes history, philosophy, methodology and, in my particular case, economics. I consider the history of ideas to be an important way of understanding reality. It implies...

Adam Smith added a new section entitled ‘Of the Character of Virtue’ to the sixth and last edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In this late addition, he mainly discusses what I will call the four Smithian virtues: self-command, prudence, beneficence and justice. Scholars have long recognised the centrality of these virtues in the articulatio...

Scholars have long been interested in the apparent dichotomy between sympathy and self-interest in Smith. The question of the consistency between The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations — the famous Das Adam Smith Problem — is definitely still relevant for anyone attracted to Smith scholarsh...

The first part of The Theory of Moral Sentiments is fundamental to Adam Smith’s moral philosophy. It is peculiarly entitled ‘Of the Propriety of Action’. Throughout the TMS Smith repeatedly refers to ‘propriety of conduct’, to the idea of ‘acting with propriety’, and even to ‘love of propriety’. Moreover, in the last part of the TMS he celebrates s...

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, by recovering the historical atmosphere in which Locke lived, the aim is to show that his thought was very much influenced by the general context of England during the second half of the seventeenth century. Second, after analizing the context that shaped his Essay on Tolerance and his Letter on Toleranc...

This paper argues that the generally shared interpretation of what can be labelled 'Smithian Newtonianism' is spurious on two counts. I suggest not only that Smith was not a Newtonian in the sense that this is commonly understood, but also that Newton was not 'Newtonian' either. Specifically, it is argued that neither did Smith have an atomistic-me...

Scholars have long been interested in the apparent dichotomy between sympathy and self-interest in Smith. The question of the consistency between The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (WN)—the famous Das Adam Smith Problem —is definitely still relevant for anyone attracted to Smith s...

La influencia de algunos pensadores marca un verdadero hito en nuestra historia intelectual. Adam Smith es un notable ejemplo. Celebrando los 230 años de la publicación de Una Investigación acerca de la Naturaleza y las Causas de la Riqueza de las Naciones (1776), un conjunto de ensayos en este volumen destaca la relevancia para la discusión actual...

En este ensayo se cuestiona la idea generalizada de que Adam Smith es un pionero de la teoría general de equilibrio económico. Aun cuando la literatura académica acertadamente destaca la influencia de Newton en la obra de Smith, la naturaleza de esta influencia ha sido malinterpretada. En estas páginas se muestra que Smith fue un cuidadoso lector d...