The conference programme was built around five plenary lectures, delivered to the full audience, with six speakers originally announced.
The lectures
- Stephen Darwall, professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, spoke on honour and respect in Smith.
- Charles Griswold, professor of philosophy at Boston University, addressed how Smith answered Rousseau on the self.
- Knud Haakonssen, professor of intellectual history at the University of Sussex, had planned a talk on Smith and Epicureanism but withdrew because of ill-health.
- David Raphael, professor emeritus of philosophy at Imperial College, spoke on the virtue of the 1759 book.
- Emma Rothschild, a historian at Harvard and director of the Centre for History and Economics shared by King’s College, Cambridge, and Harvard, explored the inner life in the book.
- Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina, asked how clear the impartial spectator’s vision really is.
Context
Together these talks covered ethics, selfhood, ancient philosophy and the relationship between Smith and Rousseau, themes taken up again in the parallel sessions. See the programme for timing, or the session speakers.