Publisher's Synopsis
'Adam Smith, Optimist or Pessimist?' provides the first full-length treatment of a tension in the work of Smith. This problem has various manifestations and it has fundamental consequences for understanding his thought. The author explains two contradictory cases within the corpus of Adam Smith's writings: Smith argues for and against teleology and for and against a best regime. The first part of the book examines Smith's case for teleology and a best regime; the second part demonstrates his case against these; and the third part presents a partial reconciliation of the problems raised in the earlier two parts. The author concludes that optimism and pessimism coexist in Smith's oeuvre without resolution of the tension, which is, at root, theological. Smith's theological view alternates between a fully harmonious earthly order and one in which humans must 'reverently submit' to numerous injustices and disharmonies.
