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Article: Anti-antifoundationalism: Is a Theory of Moral Sentiments Possible?(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Perspectives on Political Science
- Article date:
- June 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In his recent book, Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment, Charles Griswold has done a most admirable job of interpreting Adam Smith, and I have no particular quarrel to pick with that interpretation (1999). But in the end, of course, we are interested in the correct interpretation of Smith's thought in order to judge whether that thought itself is correct. It is here that I would raise some questions.
Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments is a unique and wonderful book. It is ingenious, remarkably original, beautifully argued, and it has taught me a wealth of things that I do not think I could have learned anywhere else. But there are also serious problems ...