Our Great Purpose : : Adam Smith on Living a Better Life / / Ryan Patrick Hanley.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2019 English
• VerfasserIn: Hanley, Ryan Patrick,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (176 p.)

Invaluable wisdom on living a good life from the founder of capitalismAdam Smith is best known today as the founder of modern economics, but he was also an uncommonly brilliant philosopher who was especially interested in the perennial question of how to live a good life. Our Great Purpose is a short and illuminating guide to Smith's incomparable wisdom on how to live well, written by one of today's leading Smith scholars.In this inspiring and entertaining book, Ryan Patrick Hanley describes Smith's vision of "the excellent and praiseworthy character," and draws on the philosopher's writings to show how each of us can go about developing one. For Smith, an excellent character is distinguished by qualities such as prudence, self-command, justice, and benevolence-virtues that have been extolled since antiquity. Yet Smith wrote not for the ancient polis but for the world of market society-our world-which rewards self-interest more than virtue. Hanley shows how Smith set forth a vision of the worthy life that is uniquely suited to us today.Full of invaluable insights on topics ranging from happiness and moderation to love and friendship, Our Great Purpose enables modern readers to see the founder of capitalism in an entirely new light-and along the way, learn what it truly means to live a good life.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- I. On Self-Interest -- II. On Caring for Others -- III. On Acting for Others -- IV. On Imagination -- V. On Bettering Our Condition -- VI. On Miseries and Disorders -- VII. On the Healthy Mind -- VIII. On Tranquility and Pleasure -- IX. On Worshipping Wealth -- X. On Friendship -- XI. On Pleasure -- XII. On Hatred and Anger -- XIII. On Being Loved -- XIV. On Loving -- XV. On Flourishing -- XVI. On Being Lovely -- XVII. On Seeing Ourselves -- XVIII. On Dignity -- XIX. On Equality -- XX. On Choice -- XXI. On Self and Others -- XXII. On Perfection -- XXIII. On Wisdom and Virtue -- XXIV. On Humility and Beneficence -- XXV. On Praise and Praiseworthiness -- XXVI. On Socrates -- XXVII. On Jesus -- XXVIII. On Hume -- XXIX. On God -- Epilogue. Why Smith Now? -- Table of Quotations -- Texts and Further Reading -- Notes -- Acknowledgments