Adam Smith’s version of Virtue Ethics can be traced directly back to Plato (Socrates) and Aristotle. Smith basically skipped Aquinas and Augustine because they were also Catholic theologians, as well as philosophers. Referencing them would not have been looked upon kindly by the Scottish...

Keynes carefully and methodically devoted chapter nine of the General Theory to a detailed discussion of Virtue Ethics which is related to Adam Smith’s discussion in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Both Virtues and Vices were considered by Keynes. The four main virtues in the Greek version of...

Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarian tracts The Principles of Morals and Legislation and In Defense of Usury contains an explicit attack on Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations on pages 8-23 in chapter Two of The Principles of Morals and Legislation, as well as on...

Augustine’s argument about the failure of wealth to insure one’s happiness is very similar to Adam Smith’s position except that Augustine compares a lower income or middle income class citizen with a rich citizen while Smith compares a lower income class citizen,or poor citizen, with a...

J. M. Keynes based the ethical foundations of the General Theory on a type of Virtue Ethics that he had learned from G. E. Moore. Keynes himself reinforced his understanding of Moore's version of Virtue ethics with extensive readings of the works of Plato and Aristotle. Keynes was one of the...

An analysis of Confucius and Smith demonstrates that both are presenting arguments that are extremely close in their conclusions.The Analects present a powerful case against utilitarian ethics in a manner which is very similar to Smith's argument against utilitarianism.Smith and Confucius...

Adam Smith demonstrated, repeatedly in his The Wealth of Nations in 1776 on, for example, pp.105-113,pp.227-244, pp.419-423,and p.714, his commitment and adherence to his theory of imprecise and inexact probability assessment that completely conflicted with Bentham’s exact, linear and additive...

There can't be too much self-interest or self love, Prudence, for Adam Smith (or Aristotle, Aquinas, Augustine, Buddha, etc.). Without prudent conduct and behavior at the individual level, nothing else is possible. Prudence is the bedrock foundation upon which all other virtues are build. There...