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Who was the duchesse d’Enville, and what was Adam Smith’s relation to her? Thus far this week, Alain Alcouffe and I have explored this enigmatic relationship by surveying the secondary literature on Smith. But of all the works we have … Continue reading →

Who was the Duchesse d’Enville, and what was Adam Smith’s relation to her? Among other things, according to Smith’s biographer John Rae, she “was a woman of great ability”, a “devoted friend of Turgot”, as well as a highly-educated and … Continue reading →

Who was the duchesse d’Enville, and what was Adam Smith’s relation to her? The one scholar who has the most to say about these enigmas is the late great historian Ian Simpson Ross. [See I. S. Ross, The Life of … Continue reading →

Who was the duchesse d’Enville, and what was Adam Smith’s relation to her? In his excellent contribution to the secondary literature on the Scottish philosopher-economist [see “Adam Smith in Geneva” in Valérie Cossy, Béla Kapossy, & Richard Whatmore, editors, Genève, … Continue reading →

Today, 6 January, not only marks the end of my fall sabbatical and my return to teaching; it is also Three Kings Day — the feast day of the Epiphany! (PS: The word “epiphany” is derived from the Greek ἐπιφάνεια, … Continue reading →

Why not celebrate the end of Christmastide — as well as the end of my sabbatical — with a classic Cuban anthem performed by Sheila E., featuring Gloria Estefan & Mimy Succar?

Among other things, I have been reading James McPherson’s biography of Abraham Lincoln; Amos Towles’ beautiful historical fiction novel A Gentleman in Moscow; Ian Johnston’s translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses; and Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, an … Continue reading →

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.