As I mentioned in a previous post, in the days ahead I will be reviewing Ryan Patrick Hanley’s new book about Adam Smith: “Our great purpose: Adam Smith on living a better life” (Princeton U Press, 2019), one of the most fascinating and beautiful books I have read in a long time. But before I begin, allow me first to fast-forward to the end of Professor Hanley’s tome–the next-to-last section titled “Texts and Further Readings” (pp. 141-148). For after I finished reading the book proper, the nerdy academic in me pressed on and perused Hanley’s annotated bibliography and suggestions for further reading. Suffice it to say what I found there was nothing less than a scholarly treasure trove of erudite gems. More specifically, Hanley has done his readers a great service by organizing his carefully curated yet comprehensive bibliography (see table below) by theme or subject area, pointing out the two or three most relevant papers or books about each theme and area. By way of example, Hanley’s thematic bibliography contains entries for such recondite topics as Smith’s concern for the poor, his commitment to moral pluralism, and his intellectual debts to Socrates and Plato, among many others entries. (I have compiled below a table of all the themes and subject areas covered in Hanley’s excellent bibliography. Anyone wishing to pursue any of these fascinating topics further would be well to begin here.) With this preliminary observation out of the way, we will formally get started in my next post tomorrow …

Some Themes and Subject Areas in Hanley’s Bibliography
- Biographies of Adam Smith
- Overviews of Smith’s thoughts on ethics and economics
- Introductions to Smith’s first book “The theory of moral sentiments”
- Smith’s views on self-interest
- Smith’s approach to egoism and altruism
- Smith’s concept of sympathy
- The role of the imagination in Smith’s moral system
- Smith’s concern for the poor
- The role of happiness in Smith’s theories
- Das Adam Smith Problem
- Smith’s views on corruption
- Smith’s ideas about friendship
- Smith’s treatment of anxiety
- Smith’s theory of law (jurisprudence)
- Smith’s treatment of justice
- Smith’s commitment to pluralism
- Smith’s critique of the man of system
- The distinction between the love of praise and the love of praiseworthiness in Smith’s thought
- Smith’s theory of the impartial spectator
- Smith’s commitment to equality and human dignity
- Smith theory of virtue
- Smith’s relationship to ancient thinkers like Socrates and Plato
- Smith’s friendship with Hume
- Smith’s views on religion
- Additional books about Adam Smith by Ryan Patrick Hanley