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Our Great Purpose: Adam Smith on Living a Better Life Hardcover – September 17, 2019

by Ryan Hanley (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 58 ratings
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Invaluable wisdom on living a good life from the founder of modern economics

Adam 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 Smith in an entirely new light―and along the way, learn what it truly means to live a good life.

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  1. Print length
    176 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  4. Publication date
    September 17, 2019
  5. Dimensions
    5.2 x 0.55 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0691179441
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0691179445
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ryan Patrick Hanley has provided a succinct, witty and informative work on the relevance of Adam Smith today, mercifully released from the old 'father of capitalism' misrepresentation. . . . An excellent primer on the true Smith."---Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday

"[Adam] Smith had a way of pulling all aspects of human society together, from eating and drinking with friends to trading on the stock exchange. To separate them destroys the larger picture. . . . While Smith never advocated 'a single best way for all people to live,' . . . [he] deftly connected all human activity into a single, philosophical portrait, and Our Great Purpose makes a compelling case for us to study it closely."---David J. Davis, Wall Street Journal

"An accessible, erudite, and concise introduction to Adam Smith in full, the moral philosopher of wisdom and prudence."---Jordan Ballor

"

Hanley is a distinguished political scientist at Boston College who has specialized in Smith; here in thirty short chapters he concentrates his accumulated expertize to deliver an Ariadne’s thread to guide the reader through the multiple issues Smith introduces and explores. . . . This should be passed out to all beginning students of Economics.

"---Patrick Madigan, Heythrop Journal

"An essential text of practical wisdom."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer

"This excellent book deserves a wide audience and should be required reading for every college freshman."---J. H. Spence, Choice Reviews

"A gem of a book, offering fresh insights into Smith’s writings and drawing holistic connections that make his philosophy come alive."---Jonathan Wight, The American Economist

Review

"A brilliant and original way to encounter Adam Smith―a book that will still be read in fifty years."―David Warsh, author of Economic Principals: Masters and Mavericks of Modern Economics

"Smith, as Ryan Patrick Hanley understands well, was a modern heir to the great classical search for the good life, as much a student of the soul as of modern commercial society. In translating him for our times, Hanley offers a gem of a book, a guide to a great thinker that is full of insights about the practical pursuit of living well."―Darrin M. McMahon, author of Happiness: A History

"There is a mode of teaching that explores the work of a great thinker by taking key passages and explicating their assumptions and implications. It's a form of learning that few of us get to experience firsthand. But in this book, a master expositor of Smith's moral philosophy provides us with just such an experience. Hanley guides us through Smith's ideas, and with insight and eloquence shows us the relevance of Smith's thought for the way we live our lives."―Jerry Z. Muller, author of Adam Smith in His Time and Ours: Designing the Decent Society

"Our Great Purpose is a short, engaging, and thoughtful exploration of Adam Smith's philosophy on how to live a good life, written by one of the world's preeminent Smith scholars."―Dennis C. Rasmussen, author of The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought

"An enjoyable read. Hanley simultaneously recovers the authentic Smith while providing ample evidence that commercial society may be vindicated not by acquisitiveness but by the praiseworthy lives it makes possible."―Eric Schliesser, author of Adam Smith: Systematic Philosopher and Public Thinker

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press (September 17, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691179441
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691179445
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.55 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 58 ratings

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Ryan Patrick Hanley

Ryan Patrick Hanley

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Ryan Patrick Hanley is Professor of Political Science at Boston College. Prior to joining the faculty at Boston College, he was the Mellon Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Marquette University, and held visiting appointments or fellowships at Yale, Harvard, and the University of Chicago. He is the author of several studies on Enlightenment political philosophy, including Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue (Cambridge, 2009) and Love's Enlightenment: Rethinking Charity in Modernity (Cambridge, 2017). His most recent books include Our Great Purpose: Our Great Purpose: Adam Smith on Living a Better Life (Princeton, 2019) and The Political Philosophy of Fénelon (forthcoming from Oxford).

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4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
58 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Timothy Hurlocker
5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful and powerful summary of Adam Smith's moral philosophy
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2019
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I've read several books on Adam Smith, including "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," and I think Ryan Hanley's "Our Great Purpose" is a wonderful condensation of Smith's philosophy. Each of the 29 short chapters discuss different aspects of Smith's work, but one chapter leads to another towards Smith's hugely important conclusions about wisdom and virtue. It is short but powerful, and a great introduction to Smith's complete moral philosophy.

To judge Smith by "The Wealth of Nations" alone is to miss much of his underlying views of human nature. Only two of the quotes used come from Smith's more famous book. Most come from his 1759 "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," which demonstrates Hanley's thorough understanding of his subject.

This book is a great summary for anyone who wants a succinct and accurate summary of Smith's world view.
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Joshua Ker
4.0 out of 5 stars A Short Guide to Smith's Response to the Theory of Self-interest
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2020
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A reader might approach this book and wonder what exactly the point is. The book is broken down into bite sized chunks and easily accessible, and the prose and the advice given seems straightforward and clear cut. The reader might then make the mistake of assuming the book to be simple because it aims at being clear.

This assumption would entirely miss Smith's true purpose, and what I assume is Dr. Hanley's understanding of our world and how we might benefit from understanding Smith's life philosophy.

The contemporary West is largely built on the moral and economic philosophy of self-interest. The proponents of this philosophy suggest vague ideas about a system of enlightened self-interest whereby selfish and enlightened individuals can go about their lives utterly preoccupied and concerned with only themselves and still create a good world.

The cynics among us would say that this philosophy has succeeded because it is the truth of our world, and Smith accepts that humans are foremost occupied with themselves such that an ache in the finger causes more distress than an earthquake across the globe. Yet Smith also believes that a person, howsoever selfish we may assume him to be, still cares about the people around him. (Smith also wonders what exactly one can make of a selfish world if one of the most important pieces to happiness is to be loved and be worthy of that love. )

Thus, the seemingly simple and commonsensical claim that people care about other people is at the very core of a rich philosophy that would have us rethink the world and the systems around us. This starting point is then developed into pregnant ideas about love, self understanding, and wisdom. Some of these ideas are new, and some are old lessons with a Smithian coat of paint.

The true center of this book though, and I think the true recommendation of Smithian Moral Philosophy, is the challenge Smith presents in attempting to understand the world in a comprehensive and coherent system that can take as first principle human sympathy and companionship rather than human selfishness. His success could mean that idealism and the romantic rebellion against staid and cynical selfishness could find support in realms outside poetry and art, and revitalize itself on system and philosophy.
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Themistogeneses
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent survey of Smith on the Good Life
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2019
This book is a clear, very readable overview of Adam Smith's take on living a good life. I enjoyed reading it and suspect many other general readers will too.
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F. E. Guerra Pujol
5.0 out of 5 stars Do Grasshoppers Dream of Impartial Spectators?
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2022
I shall begin my review of Ryan Patrick Hanley’s new work on Adam Smith by saying a few words about its style. Instead of bequeathing us a dense or dry scholarly tome, Hanley’s chapters are short and crisp; his citations are kept to a minimum. But it is the substance of the book that deserves our full attention, for this little tome begins with a barrage of perennial questions:

1. What does it mean to live a better life?
2. What makes one path better than another?
3. What standard should we use to judge what choices we make?
4. And where should we turn for guidance on all this?

Hanley’s contribution in this tome is to bring Adam Smith back to life, so to speak, to show Smith’s relevance to our times. Hanley starts us off with Smithian sympathy. For Smith, humans are not just purely selfish actors or egoistic utility maximizers in the parlance of modern economics. On the contrary, we not only care about the welfare of others; the happiness of others is ‘necessary’ or essential to our well-being. Furthermore, as perceptive as this observation is--especially coming from Adam Smith, the father of the dismal science--Smith the moral philosopher makes an even more insightful observation about the reciprocal nature of sympathy (quoted on p. 23 of Hanley): "Of such mighty importance does it appear to be, in the imaginations of men, to stand in that situation which sets them most in the view of general sympathy and attention". In other words, Hanley emphasizes the dual or reciprocal nature of Smith’s theory of sympathy. Simply put, sympathy is not just something we are naturally inclined or willing to give to others; sympathy is also something we want to receive from others, or in the words of Hanley (p. 24): "… not only are we naturally disposed to sympathize with others, we also naturally desire that others sympathize with us". In fact, according to Smith (as quoted by Hanley), this is why we spend so much time trying to better our condition--in order "to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation …." (p. 28).

This key Smithian insight about the reciprocal nature of sympathy is important for three reasons. First and foremost, this insight goes a long way toward solving the so-called Das Adam Smith Problem, toward reconciling Smith the economist and Smith the moral philosopher. Simply put, we don’t sympathize with others out of pure altruism but rather out of our own self-interest. Secondly, this Smithian insight about the reciprocal nature of sympathy helps explain and unravel many of the riddles, quirks, and mysteries of human behavior. Why, for example, do young people spend so much time on social media, Hanley asks? Because they crave the attention of their peers. In short, Smith’s insight paints a more accurate and nuanced portrait of human psychology and motives than the low-grade, utility-maximization picture painted by mainstream economists. Or as Hanley himself puts it (p. 17), "… we have, by nature, two parts to us that on their face pull in different directions. One leads us to care about ourselves and our own happiness, while the other leads us to care about others and their happiness".

Lastly, perhaps the most important aspect of Smith’s theory of sympathy is that it is these mutual or reciprocal exchanges of sympathy--not God or the Good--that function as the true foundation of morality. As a result, sympathy plays a crucial role not just from an individual perspective--for our individual well-being and sense of worth--but also from a social or community perspective--for the well-being of society as a whole. Why? Because it is the reciprocal nature of sympathy that allows us to transcend our selfish tendencies and potentially bridge our many divisions and break out of our current cycles of tribalism. Alas, I say ‘potentially’ because Smith’s beautiful theory of reciprocal sympathy, as original and sophisticated as it is, poses a new problem: what I shall call Das Adam Smith Problem 2.0. If these reciprocal exchanges are so essential to our well-being from both an individual and community or social perspective, then why do we see so much division and tribalism in our contemporary world today? My own view is that there is an optimal level of tribalism and that our current levels of disunity are probably over-hyped.

Although the sympathy of others is necessary to our happiness (to paraphrase Smith), and although we also want to receive the sympathy, attention, and esteem of others, Hanley points out two further problems with Smith’s theory of mutual sympathy in practice. One problem is that we are often selective and superficial in choosing the objects of our sympathy. As Hanley puts it, channelling his inner Adam Smith, "the wealthy are often worshipped, and the poor willfully overlooked" (p. 30). Aside from this bias issue, the other problem is that our single-minded pursuit of sympathy, attention, and esteem can itself get out of hand. We might spend way too much time and effort in trying to seek the attention of others, or we might end up painting a false picture of ourselves--as anyone who has spent time on social media can attest to. To sum up, the pursuit of attention, combined with a bias toward the wealthy, might thus lead to "mindless striving" (p. 41) and even to ‘mental mutilation’ (p. 39).

So, what is to be done? Here is where Smith’s ingenious distinction between praise and praiseworthiness--a key distinction highlighted by Hanley--comes to the rescue, and here is also where Smith’s analysis of morality moves from the descriptive to the normative--from Hume’s ‘is’ to ‘ought.’ According to Smith, it’s not enough to obtain the praise and esteem of others; we must also be deserving of this praise. But this fundamental Smithian praise/praiseworthiness distinction poses a new problem for us: how do we know when are truly deserving of praise? Here is where the perspective of Smith’s imaginary spectator comes into play. At a minimum, the impartial spectator helps us keep things in perspective, telling us--contra Mr Rogers--that we are not all that special, that "we are just one of the multitude" (p. 83). Additionally, he (or she?) will act as an impartial judge and juror, reviewing our actions and our motives and determining whether we are truly deserving of the praise of others.

In sum, this inner voice or imaginary actor is crucial to living a better life, Hanley explains, because it invites us to take into account the perspective of others and to put our self-interest and self-love into perspective. At the same time, Smith’s imaginary spectator produces many more questions than it answers, deeper questions that Hanley must simply brush aside given the brevity of his book. In the interest of space and time, I will raise just one such doubt here, a purely logistical or practical query based on my field of expertise, the law. Is the impartial spectator more like a trial judge or an appellate judge? If it’s true, for example, that the average person makes up to 2000 decisions every hour, which of these myriad decisions are subject to review by one’s impartial spectator, i.e. actually go up ‘on appeal,’ so to speak. Also, if Smith’s imaginary spectator operates like an appellate judge, what criteria does this judge use in deciding which of our decisions will reviewed on appeal, and what standard or review does this judge use--de novo review, a clear error rule, or an abuse of discretion standard?

Professor Hanley concludes his book with Smith’s "wise and virtuous man" (see especially pp. 105-129). Alas, this Smithian ideal begs the question: What actions are wise and virtuous? Hanley responds to this key question by bringing Plato’s famous allegory of the cave into the picture. A group of prisoners, deep inside a dark cave, are in chains, forced to gaze at a wall in front of them. In the original version of the allegory, shadows are projected on the wall (by whom, though?) from objects passing in front of a fire behind them. The prisoners, unable to see the objects casting the shadows, mistake the shadows for the objects themselves. Suppose that one of the prisoners is freed from his chains, leaves the cave, and sees the natural light outside. What should the freed prisoner do next, Hanley asks (p. 110)? Return to the dark cave or bask in the light outside? Hanley claims that Smith’s archetype would return to the cave to help the prisoners trapped inside (p. 112): "Bettering the conditions of others--striving at all times 'to promote their further advancement'--is however the project of a wise and virtuous person’s life".

In other words, Hanley’s portrait of Smith’s wise and virtuous man transforms him into an officious intermeddler. No! The classical liberal in me strongly rejects Hanley’s interpretation of Smith’s ideal man. It is one thing to strive to become wise and virtuous for your own sake, or to set a good example for one’s children, or to lead one’s men into battle, but I strongly disagree with Hanley’s portrait of the wise and virtuous man as an officious intermeddler, as someone who wants to improve the condition of others. Ironically, Hanley himself has forgotten the actual ending of Plato’s allegory: the freed prisoner does return to help his fellow prisoners, but he becomes blind upon re-entering the cave, and worse yet, the remaining prisoners infer from his blindness that the journey out of the cave is too dangerous to undertake themselves. Plato concludes that the prisoners do not want to be dragged out of the cave.

Also, for what it is worth, Adam Smith himself was only able to identify but one flesh-and-blood person "as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty will admit" (p. 125). (I will not give away the identity of this remarkable human being. Read Hanley’s beautiful book to find out for yourself.) More importantly, Hanley sidesteps a further complication with Smith’s theory of virtue: What happens when the Stoic values of the wise and virtuous man--magnanimity, self-command, charity, and Christian love--collide or come into conflict? By way of example, how would Smith’s wise and virtuous man respond to the trolley problem? To sum up, although I agree in principle with Smith (and Hanley) that we should aspire to become wise and virtuous, in reality this ideal is an impossible one to achieve; nor does it give us a license to interfere with or try to better the lives of others.

In conclusion, Hanley’s section on "Texts and Further Readings" (pp. 141-148) is worth mentioning, for it contains a scholarly treasure trove of erudite gems. Hanley has done his readers a great service by organizing his carefully curated yet comprehensive bibliography of Adam Smith’s ideas by theme or subject area, citing the two or three most relevant papers or books about each theme and area. By way of example, Hanley’s thematic bibliography contains entries for such recondite topics as Smith’s concern for the poor, his commitment to moral pluralism, and his intellectual debts to Socrates and Plato, among many other entries.
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Christian Schlect
3.0 out of 5 stars The Invisible Heart
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2019
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A short book with short chapters; it seeks to explain Adam Smith's thinking on the ingredients of leading a good life.

While I greatly admire the famed Scottish economist of the 18th century, I am not so admiring of this book. It seems to me to be a modern day university professor's effort to get one more book out of his career-long absorption in studying the works of Adam Smith. It reads like an extended conversation an older professor might have with his admiring undergraduate students in guiding them to a predetermined outcome.

It's good to be wise and virtuous.

A positive: Professor Hanley provides a quite helpful ending section on suggestions for further reading.
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