3. Adam Smith (1723-1790) 

@hometubing Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. I agree. AS was not only the founder of modern economics, but an immensely wise and broad philosopher. If you go to my website (google 'Alan Macfarlane') and look under 'Ebooks' on the front, you will find my short book (a free downloadable pdf) on him, which you might enjoy. Best wishes and thanks again, Alan

To the people who were in that room for that lecture: You are very lucky to receive what in my opinion is the best summary of what was one of the greatest philosophers in the history of mankind. To the lecturer: bravo. Thank you. I believe in the accuracy of your summary. I hope to find out your name and would love to discuss Adam Smith with you and plan to read about all the people you mentioned. To anyone else: watch this video.

These are very informative lectures, Mr. Macfarlane. Thank you for the initiative to record them and put them online. They've broadened my knowledge and understanding about Western civilization.

Why are they not more high quality lectures on this here you tube - Thank you for sharing the knowledge - BRAVO and more please.

Excellent !!!!! Thank you professor. While Doctor Adam Smith imported the concept of Division of Labor, he refined it to a “T” with his addition of his theory of Maximization of Comparative Advantage.

really great lecture, grateful to whoever recorded as well as to the prof., for sure) older RU-vid gold in here) recommending to friends, cheers

I'm loving Adam Smith. Will study him in greater depth. Thankyou so much for posting these lectures.

CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR UPLOADING THIS. A KENYAN MIND HAS BEEN ENRICHED THOROUGHLY TODAY

@tqlblows as example, my favorite part of this lecture is the break when Alan is in dialogue with the class... I learned something and was engaged.

Loved this. We live in a world of over simplified choices that have little effect on the things that matter. And I love the fact that one of the people often held as a totem for this state of affairs was actually far more nuanced and complex in his appraisal of these matters than 'they'd' have you believe. I also feel an idiot for never giving more weight to the actually fairly obvious historical context to the work.

i watched a speech by noam chonmsky and he only mentiones adam smith and talks about his ideas for 5 minutes, and i got more from just that than the whole hour i listen to this...

Great stuff, thank you for uploading this professor!

adam smith has absent minded mind, he was the best thinker ever in philosophy , because of his accurate explanation about human natural behavior and emotion. his wealth of nation book are entirely based on the theory of moral sentiment, which revolved around human needs and behavior.

Wow, I just found myself a great youtube channel. Great lectures! More courses and lectures without the cost of tuition! Yay!

much better lecture than expected

Many thanks for the lecture!

I first watched this many years ago with a big bottle of gin by my side. Nearly four years have passed and there is still a lot for me to digest out of it. Perhaps I am not much of an economist or maybe I am more interested in his moral teachings, but nevertheless the lecture was refreshing as the first time. Thank you for making it accessible for the commoners like myself, who'd probably be at Oxbridge, if not for the unforeseeable dictates of an invisible hand! The thing about Adam Smith that strikes to me as somewhat peculiar is an outstanding propensity towards historicity. For all we know, perhaps the so-called Marxist historiography would not be a model on the philosophy of history at all, if only Smith's approach had more of a popular appeal. But then again, I am afraid this thinker was not preoccupied and busy with turning the philosophaster Hegel "on his head'. Maybe you would have elaborated why the case was not so, that Smith's historiography never really took off whereas Marx's did, but no one has bothered to raise the point and ask.

very interesting lecture...this lecture is compendium about adam smith.

Yeah exactly, i learned simth's theories in my second year of highschool on the 3 years we have in France.

Thanks, you are a great teacher!

Great lecture, you rock badly over my poor lecturer. Now I like learning about this subject. Thank you

Awesome. The mic hissing every few minutes is slightly annoying though..

was it adam smith who said that the government was first introduced to protect the rich minority from the poorer majority?

Smith wasn't really an advocate of Laissez-faire. I know it's commonly reported that he was, but most academics who have studied his texts agree that whilst certain quotes from WN, when viewed alone, suggest an advocation of Laissez-faire, when one looks at his writings as a whole it is really not the case. Take a look at Jacob Viner's seminal article "Adam Smith & laissez faire" for more info on that. P.S I'm aware your comment was just a light hearted joke..but oh well.

N.B. Do not play on high volume :) Excellent online lectures nevertheless!

Alan's way of lecturing is never droll or wearisome, he lecturers to you and not at you without being overbearing or pretentious.

Depends what you mean by rational. In economics rationality has a very basic meaning. It simply means that people act in a purposeful way to achieve ends. This definition makes no normative judgement on those ends. So for example the murderer and the suicide are both considered rational if they use the best known and available tools to achieve their purpose. This difference in meaning from the everyday usage has caused much confusion.

Excellent lecture, although I thought his theory of the "invisible hand" related to compassion and the importance of charity which is quite the opposite of what some of his contemporaries like Ayn Rand would advocate. Great work!

@ucokcouk Sry if you feel offended, that was not my intention but i can clearly say to you that Adam Smith is taught in french high scools, just took my old book from a year ago, since i graduated last year and we had Smith, Ricardo, Tocqueville, Marx, Shumpeter, Weber, Durkheim. We did 3 hours to 4 hours on each + you talk about some of them in philosophy and history. Cant talk about english schools and i dont care but in here the programs are huge.

thanks for uploading this...

Of Public Debts......Stegnographia, Less of an enquiry.... more of a textbook? I like this lecturer.

what is wrong with milton freedman?

I sincerely hope that in public interest, politicians in America who want to quote Adam Smith or spew hatred like Gingrich must be first required to watch these videos. (Apologies to Prof. Macfarlene if he's never heard of people in America who misrepresent Smith).

Whilst I agree this was a bit surprising, the course is Social Anthropology, so unless any of these students took economics they probably wouldn't have heard of the invisible hand within their schools.

omg Adam smith is in my top 10 for influential people of history

Now I have to watch his other lectures :(

Its not KIR- KA -DY, the town he was born in is prounounced KIR-KAW-DY, and spelt as Kirkcaldy. I was born near there myself.

And did you read mine?? You wrote "what some of his contemporaries like Ayn Rand would advocate". In that sentence you refer to Rand as somebody who lived at the same time as Adam Smith, that is the meaning of the word "contemporary". My apologies for using the word "idiot", I´m sure you´re not, but it gets tiresome with all the referring to Rand that is going on everywhere. Especially when it doesn´t make sense chronologically. Cheers

awesome lecture!But the sound could be better....so much better!!!!!!!

nice lecture

Odd that a historian should describe the Irish potato famine as the last great famine in European history (40 minutes in). I can only assume that the Donets Basin is not included in his Europe, or that the Holodomor was a hoax?. Did not Turgot propose the same course for national wealth at an earlier date?. I enjoyed this lecture. For a cracking overview of classical liberal thought - to which Smith contributed- try listening to (or reading) Ralph Raico, on youtube or at mises.org.

im sorry...kirkaddy burg school? kirkcaly(kawwdie) burgh (bura) school? and this is cambridge :/

Greats from Germany and thanks for uploading!

I'm torn by this lecturer, at first I love the information, but at second, I think the presentation is drab. I am struggling to not fall asleep. Is there ANY class participation or is Alan just trying to transfer facts from his brain to the students? If the latter, just write down the info and send an email... no need for a class.

Adam Smith : práctico. Ultra.

Ive made a short comic book bio of Adam Smith, thats now on Sweetlit website, check 'Adam Smith, Economist' , and my name Sean Michael Wilson

No you shouldn't. You should let the companies that deal with such risky ventures fail. 1923 had a worse crash than 1930 btw. But it wasn't even a blip because there was no government intervention. The Fed was chiefly responsible for all of those crashes. It lowered interest rates far below what the market would place them at. With cheap money there was a lot of mal investment. (Lets invest in X even though it may not be good.) Like derivatives, securities etc. The Fed caused them all.

microeconomics, macroeconomics microevolution, macroevolution "Invisible hand" - "missing link" Adam Smith, Father of Economic Theory, used the term "invisible hand". Had he chose to use the term "God", we would all likely be asking, who is Adam Smith, while the Laws of Supply & Demand and God would still exist. There is only one choice a human makes their entire life that is not subject to the Principle of Self Interest. Once that choice is made, it is repeated with prior knowledge.

Fabulous lecture. And who says RU-vid is all about prairie dogs and skateboarding bulldogs!

Lol not even able to quote the theory of the invinsible hand at the beginning. This is the level of Cambridge ?????????

If I had been a student there I would have applauded, or at least said thank you. This bunch of public school ingrates just sat in dumb silence.

i really didnt think this was as informative as an hour of listening could be.. now dont get me wrong, im not here to bash, i looked at 4 parts of his lectures and i think im gonna stop, as dont really learn anything sorry...

Ron Paul 2012

And how exactly was Smith a fascist? (Or are you just running your big ol' head)?

adam smith and the invisible hand of theft

This is a pretty horrible lecture.. He is boring, he doesn't seem to understand the subject matter, he lies about the Adam Smith Institute not understanding Adam Smith. He misdefines what wealth is. Frolicking in the dandelions isn't wealth... the ability to do so because all other things like innovation in machinery which allows for your labor to be multiples more productive is. So you have more free time and less social inequality etc.. due to the wealth created. You have better healthcare due to the innovation that free markets bring. You sound like a socialist trying to describe capitalism. It's sad that people had to pay to hear this....or heard it and feel informed.

So ilth=socialism. I get it.