Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol

One detail that most of Adam Smith’s biographers get wrong is his departure date from Geneva. Dugald Stewart, for example, has Smith leaving the little republic in December of 1765 and arriving in Paris for the final phase of his … Continue reading →

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne PS: Alain Alcouffe and I will resume our series on Adam Smith in Switzerland in our next post; in the meantime, we wish our loyal readers a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

By all accounts, Adam Smith visited Geneva in the fall of 1765, yet the precise dates and locations of this brief but memorable chapter in his life are murky at best. [See, e.g., Brian Bonnyman, “Adam Smith in Geneva”, in … Continue reading →

As Alain Alcouffe and I mentioned in our previous two posts (see here and here), a dramatic political showdown was unfolding in real time in Rousseau’s Republic of Geneva during Adam Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland, a constitutional stalemate that Smith … Continue reading →

As Alain Alcouffe and I mentioned in our previous post, a dramatic political showdown was unfolding in real time in the Republic of Geneva during Adam Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland, for in November 1765 the General Council of Geneva had … Continue reading →

As Alain Alcouffe and I mentioned in our previous post, a dramatic political showdown was unfolding in real time in the Republic of Geneva during Adam Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland; in fact, as we shall soon see, the high point … Continue reading →

What did Adam Smith discuss during his sojourn in Switzerland in late 1765/early 1766? What lessons might he have learned while conversing with Voltaire at his country estate in Ferney or with the duchesse d’Enville at her interim salon in … Continue reading →