michael at ecst.csuchico.edu wrote:
I.xi.p.8: Landlords' self-interest coincides with society's, but since their income comes to them without effort they lack "any tolerable knowledge of that [self] interest." "That indolence, which is the natural effect of the ease and security of their situation, renders them too often, not only ignorant, but incapable of that application of mind which is necessary in order to forsee and understand the consequences of any publick regulation."
Here he is is sort of moderate. This is what he told his students about the genry/landlords in his Lectures on Jurisprudence 264: "...the nobility are the greatest opposers and oppresors of liberty that we can imagine...The people can never have security of person or estate till the nobility be crushed."
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There are many such delightful passages in Smith. One wonders if the conservative college students who wear Adam Smith T-Shirts ever read him. The Wealth of Nations is an absolute delight to read, regardless of its economic theory. I have not read his work on ethics (and just now forget the title), but I imagine it would make good reading too.
Carrol