The conference on the Philosophy of Adam Smith ran for three days in early January 2009. This page gives an outline of the structure, in the style of an academic timetable, with the main themes of each day.
Day one, Tuesday 6 January
Registration opened late in the morning, followed by lunch in the Grand Hall. The first plenary was an introduction by Vivienne Brown and a lecture by D. D. Raphael on the virtues of the 1759 book. After the afternoon break came the first set of parallel sessions:
– reading the book as a whole, with papers by Neven Leddy and Robert Mankin
– Smith and Rousseau, with papers by Jonathan Rick and Lauren Brubaker
– the evolutionary strand in Smith, with Toni Vogel Carey and Jeffrey Young
In the evening an exhibition on Smith’s years at Balliol opened in the college chapel, compiled by John Jones and Anna Sander, followed by a drinks reception. Dinner ended with a talk by Ian Simpson Ross on Smith at Balliol.
Day two, Wednesday 7 January
The morning plenary was Stephen Darwall on honour and self-respect. The second session covered meta-ethics, with Patricio Fernandez and Nicholas Teh on moral objectivity, Robert Urquhart on sympathy, and Patrick Frierson on intrinsic value, as well as Kantian and Hegelian readings. The afternoon turned to ancient philosophy, with Gloria Vivenza, Eric Schliesser and Thornton Lockwood, to the foundations of Smith’s ethics, and to aesthetics, with Maureen Harkin, Arby Siraki and Emily Brady. The day closed with Geoffrey Sayre-McCord’s plenary on the impartial spectator and a conference dinner.
Day three, Thursday 8 January
Charles Griswold opened with a plenary on Smith’s answer to Rousseau. Morning sessions looked at politics, with Fonna Forman-Barzilai, Alice MacLachlan and Richard Boyd, and at sympathy, with Andrew Terjesen, James McLellan and Karin Brown, and Richard van den Berg. The afternoon covered the self and society, and theology and scepticism, with Paul Oslington, Sergio Cremaschi and Ryan Hanley. Emma Rothschild gave the final plenary on the inner life, and a farewell dinner followed.
Related pages
See the session speakers and plenary speakers, or go back to the conference overview.