Obituary: Ian Simpson Ross
Upcoming Events:
June 2015: 4th International Conference of the MSSSE
Other News & Events:
Adam Smith Review 8 has been mailed! Please check for your copy.
IASS is co-sponsoring 2 sessions ("Markets and Models in 18 C Literature" and "18 C Morals: Sympathy and Virtue in Political Economy and Literature") at ASECS, March 2015. Presenters include Heather King (Dept. of English, University of Redlands,Jacob Sider Jost (Dept. of English, Dickinson College,Linda Zionkowski (Dept. of English, Ohio University; and Michael Gavin (Dept of English, University of South Carolina, Shannon Ringvelski Chamberlain (PhD candidate, English, University of California-Berkely, and Howard Horwitz (Department of English, University of Utah.
The Yale Center for the Study of Representative Institutions will host a conference on Adam Smith: Critic of Capitalism, on Friday 10 April 2015. The conference explores Smith's complex and ambivalent approach to commercial society throughout his moral and political thought. Presenters include Ryan Hamley (Marquette University), Dennis Rasmussen (Tufts University), Charles Griswold (Boston University), Michelle Schqarze (UW-Madison), Michael Frazer (Harvard University) and Mike Hill (SUNY Albany). The full schedule is on teh YCRI website or contact Michelle Schwarze at mschwarze@wisc.edu or Yiftah Elazar at jiftah.elazar@yale.edu.
Past Events:
February 19, 2015: IASS co-sponsored sessions at the American Philosophical Association Central conference, Feb. 19 (St. Louis), "Economists as Moral Theorists: Language, Reciprocity, and the 'Great School of Self Command' with contributions by Chris Martin (Hillsdale College), Sandra Peart and David LEvy (University of Richmond and George Mason University) and Leonidas Montes (Duke University)
June 20-22, 2014: IASS co-sponsored five excellent sessions at HES!!! Many thanks to Maria Pia Paganelli and Robert Leonard for organizing these. The meeting was held in Montreal, PQ, June 20-22, 2014.
March 22, 2014: American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies: IASS co-sponsored sessions with the ASECS: “Adam Smith and the Art of Narrative,” with Mark Yellin (Liberty Fund), Stephanie Degooyer (Willamette University); Karen Valihora (York University) and Neil Saccamano (Cornell University); March 22, Williamsburg VA; “Adam Smith: Moral and Political Thought,” with Michael Amrozowicz (SUNY Albany) and Eugene Heath (SUNY New Palz).
June 2013: Going to France / Coming from France! : IASS is excited for our joint conference next month in Paris with the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society. Scroll down for further details and program. A second Smith event later in the summer crosses the Channel in the other direction; see below for details on the dramatic performance of "Adam Smith, le Grand Tour", to be held in conjunction with the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
May 2013: Haifa and Paris: Two international events will prominently feature Smith. See full details below for the programs of events in both Haifa (June 2013) and Paris (July 2013).
April 2013: In Memoriam: Istvan Hont
The Society mourns the passing of Istvan Hont, one of the preeminent scholars of Adam Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment and of eighteenth-century political economy more generally. Among his notable contributions to Smith scholarship were the pathbreaking volume Wealth and Virtue (Cambridge, 1983), which he edited with Michael Ignatieff, and the many important essays included in his book Jealousy of Trade (Harvard, 2005). King's College, Cambridge, of which he had been a Fellow since 1978, has posted a memorial tribute here.
October 2012: Upcoming Panels and Paris CFP
Planning is in full swing for our July 2013 Paris conference -- see the call for papers below, and note especially the December 1 deadline for abstracts! We are also pleased to be able to present three excellent panels at the upcoming meetings of the Central APA and the ASECS, details of which also follow below.
June 2012: Heading to Paris!
IASS is looking forward to joining forces with the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society to cosponsor an international conference in Paris in July 2013. We hope many of our members will be able to attend. Please see Upcoming Events below for the full Call for Papers!
May 2012: ASECS Panels and Greek Workshop
IASS will be back at the ASECS in 2013 -- see below for Call for Papers. We'll also be branching out into new territory as we cosponsor a regional study group in Greece this summer -- hopefully the first of other such regional study groups. Please be in touch if you'd like to coordinate one for your country or region!
March 2012: Recent and Upcoming Events
The Society was pleased to be able to host its first two panels at the annual meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies this past month. We also look forward to a one-day symposium to be held in Chicago in May. Details on each follow below.
February 2012: In Memorium: Andrew S. Skinner
The Society mourns the passing of the distinguished Smith scholar Andrew S. Skinner. Professor Skinner's academic career was spent at the University of Glasgow, where he held several distinguished chairs, including the position of Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy. Smith scholars are indebted to him for his service as an editor of the Glasgow Edition of the Wealth of Nations, and for his many important original contributions to Smith scholarship, including A System of Social Science (Oxford University Press).
January 2012: Non-Profit Status
The Society is pleased to have been officially recongized by the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization!
July 2011: Panmure House Update
Very good news from IASS member Gavin Kennedy, Emeritus Professor, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh:
"It has been announced (22nd July) that the Scottish Government has approved the proposals from Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt University) for the sympathetic renovation of "Panmure House," just off old Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile, where Adam Smith lived from 1778 up to his death in 1790. The planning authorities have at last given the go ahead…to allow the old building (1697) to be suitable for its educational and research purposes…With the final planning approvals, EBS plans to put its ambitious plans into action. The architects can detail their drawings, the funds can now be mobilised from generous donors around the world, and everything prepared for Panmure House to become a (welcome) magnet for visitors to Edinburgh, and also for its serious academic and educational work to commence."
Further details available in the BBC's coverage, available here.
June 2011: CFP and Events
The Society looks forward to its panel on new translations of TMS at the July 2011 meeting of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society in Aberdeen; details below under “Upcoming Events.”
IASS is now an affiliate society of the American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS), thanks to the efforts of IASS member Catherine Labio. As such, the Society can now cosponsor two panels at the upcoming ASECS meeting. IASS members are encouraged to submit their work for consideration; for details, please see the call for papers below under “Upcoming Events.”
IASS member Maria Paganelli organized an excellent panel for the recent meeting of the History of Economics Society which met at the University of Notre Dame in June 2011; details below under “Recent Events.”
April 2011: IASS and ASECS
IASS is very happy to announce that it has been officially recognized as an affiliate society by the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS). We very much look forward to working with the ASECS and to sponsoring panels at their annual conferences!
February 2011: Upcoming Panels
The Society has now finalized its plans for two academic events in 2011. For details, please see Events below.
January 2011: Board Election Results
The results of the Society's first Board election are now in! Congratulations to our four newest Board members: Sandra Peart, Charles Griswold, Leonidas Montes, and Douglas Den Uyl. Each will serve a three-year term (calendar years 2011-2013).
June 2010: Smith in the News
The Panmure House Project continues to work on turning Smith's home in Edinburgh into a center for scholarship. Smith's grave, on the other hand, along with Hume's and Robert Stevenson's, has been neglected and the headstone is said to be deteriorating: see story in The Scottish Courier.
EVENTS
Upcoming Events (IASS and non-IASS)
Adam Smith, le Grand Tour, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 2013.
The Institut français d'Ecosse will be sponsoring the theater show Adam Smith, le Grand Tour, by Compagnie Les Labyrinthes (France) as part of the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The original production, which will be performed in English by Compagnie Les Labyrinthes, was written by professor Vanessa Oltra, senior lecturer in economics at Univeristy of Bordeaux IV. For more information, click here.
ECSSS and IASS Joint Conference, University of Paris-Sorbonne, July 2013.
IASS is extremely excited to be a cosponsor of the 2013 ECSSS Annual Meeting to be held in Paris from 3-6 July 2013. The conference will be dedicated to the theme of "Scotland, Europe and Empire in the Age of Adam Smith and Beyond," and will feature plenary addresses by Amartya Sen (Harvard), Emma Rothschild (Harvard and Cambridge) and Michael Biziou (Nice). Registration details are available via the Centre Roland Mousnier; a provisional program is available for download here.
Second Annual Mediterranean Seminar for Study of the Scottish Enlightenment, Haifa, June 2013
IASS member Dionysius Drosos (University of Ioannina), in conjuction with Michael Heyd (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Fania Oz-Salzberger (University of Haifa), has organized an excellent seminar on the subject of "The Scottish Enlightenment and the 'Other'." Full detals on the conference available here.
Recent Events (IASS and non-IASS)
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Meeting, Cleveland, April 2013.
IASS sponsored two sessions at the 2013 Annual Meeting of ASECS, held in Cleveland from 4-7 April 2013:
2. Shannon Chamberlain (University of California-Berkeley): “Hating the Novel.”
3. Laura Rosenthal (University of Maryland): “Adam Smith and the Theater in Moral Sentiments.”
Commentators included Maureen Harkin, Ryan Hanley, and Mark Yellin.
Central APA Panel, New Orleans, February 2013.
The Society was delighted to sponsor a panel at the 2013 meeting of the central APA featuring Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), who spoke on "Hume and Smith on Sympathy, Approbation, and Moral Judgment." John McHugh (Denison University) provided comments.
East Mediterranean Seminar for Study of the Scottish Enlightenment, Zakynthos, Greece, June 2012
IASS Member Dionysius Drosos of the University of Ioannina recently organized an excellent seminar on the subject of "The Scottish Enlightenment and Religion" from 15-17 June 2012, which included the following papers (several by IASS members):
Dionysios, Archbishop of Zakynthos: “Enlightenment and Religious Toleration in Ionian Islands”
Richard Gunn (Edinburgh): “Scepticism, Religion and Political Theory in the Scottish Enlightenment”
Michael Heyd (Hebrew U. of Jerusalem): “From Locke to Hutcheson: The Demise of Original Sin as a
background to the Scottish Enlightenment”
Samuel Fleischacker (UIC): “The Skeptic and the Fideists: Why Hamann and Jacobi loved Hume”
Dionysis Drosos (Ioannina): “Belief in a Moral Community and the Community of Believers. Speculations on
What a Humean Critique of Eastern Christian Fideism would be like”
Chandran Kukathas (LSE): “From Paradoxical Principle to Salutary Practice: Pierre Bayle and David Hume on
Religious Toleration"
Saniye Vatansever (UIC): “Was Hume an Atheist or an Agnostic?”
Athanasia Glykofridi Leontsini (Athens): “The Critique of Religion in the Neohellenic Enlightenment”
Gloria Vivenza (Verona): “The Gods of paganism in Adam Smith’s writings”
Christel Fricke (Oslo): “Does the judge within speak with the voice of a divine being?”
Maria Carrasco (Pontificia, Chile): “The role of God in Adam Smith’s TMS: Necessity or Convenience?”
Fotini Vaki (Ioannina): “Adam Smith's invisible hand: a disguised religion?”
Doğan Göçmen (Dokuz Eylül Univ Izmir): “ Genesis and foundations of morality. Some Observations on Smith’s
Use of the Concept of God in the Theory of Moral Sentiments”
Sergio Cremaschi (Univ. Amedeo Avogadro del Piemonte Orientale) : “Adam Smith's unwritten theology”
Gokhan-Eylem Yolsal Murteza (Kırklareli University): “Sympathizing with other faiths in economic relations: Is it
possible? Or is it necessary at all?”
Raquel Lazaro Cantero (Navarra): “The Commercial Society in Adam Smith: God and the role of religion”
Fania Oz-Salzberger (Haifa): “Israelites and Jews in Scottish Enlightenment Thought”
Spiros Tegos (Crete): “Commercial Friendship revisited: Adam Smith on Friendship”
Ioannis Tassopoulos (Athens): “The Formation of Self-Consciousness in Adam Smith's TMS: Legal and
Political Implications”
Roberto Rodríguez, Hellenic Open University: “The Spanish Enlightenment in the Essays of Philosopher Julián
Marías during the Francoist Dictatorship”
Marcelo Dascal (Tel Aviv): “Adam Smith's critique of casuistry and today's fashionable 'ethical codes”
Many congratulations to Professor Drosos for organizing this excellent event -- hopefully the first of many.
"Adam Smith: Philosophical Perspectives," University of Illinois-Chicago, May 2012.
In conjunction with the Institute for Humanities at the University of Illinois-Chicago, IASS sponsored a one-day symposium on "Adam Smith: Philosophical Perpectives" on 17 May 2012. Speakers included Christel Fricke (Oslo) on “Smith and Jane Austen on Moral Education”; Spiros Tegos (Crete) on “Smith on the Addisonian and Courtly Origins of Politeness”; Michael Gill (Arizona) on “Moral Pluralism in Smith’s TMS”; Maria Carrasco (Santiago) on “Smith’s TMS: Propriety, Justice and Relativism”; Eric Schliesser (Ghent) on “Sympathetic Counterfactual Reasoning in the TMS”; and Ryan Hanley (Marquette) on “Adam Smith: From Love to Sympathy." Commentators included Julie Cooper (Chicago), Warren Herrold (Michigan) and Stephen Engelman (UIC). Revised versions of the papers will be forthcoming in the Revue internationale de philosophie.
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, March 2012.
IASS sponsored two sessions at the 2012 Meeting of the American Society for Eighteeenth-Century Studies. "Adam Smith Now," a panel organized by member Catherine Labio (Colorado), featured papers from Jonathan Sacks (Concordia), Lynda Hall (Chapman), Arby Ted Siraki (Ottawa) and Maureen Harkin (Reed College). Our second panel, "Adam Smith and the Enlightenment," organized by member Neven Leddy, included papers from Hina Nazar (Illinois), Arby Ted Siraki, and Spiros Tegos (Crete).
Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society (ECSSS) Annual Meeting, Aberdeen, July 2011.
In conjunction with the 2011 Annual Meeting of the ECSSS, IASS was very pleased to sponsor a roundtable dedicated to "Moral Sentiments in Translation: A Roundtable on New Editions of Smith's TMS." The roundtable highlighted several new editions and translations of TMS that have been recently published, and featured contributions from several translators of TMS, including Dionysius Drosos (Ioannina) and Matti Norri (Helsinki), as well as comments (in absentia) on the Spanish translation by Estrella Trincado Aznar (Madrid) and the German translation by Christel Fricke (Oslo), and comments (in absentia) from Adelino Zanini (Ancona) and Cesare Cozzo (Rome). The roundtable was chaired by Nicholas Phillipson (Edinburgh).
History of Economics Society Panel, June 2011.
IASS was pleased to cosponsor a panel at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the History of Economics Society in South Bend, IN. Papers included Paul Oslington, “Adam Smith and the Future Hope”; Maria Paganelli, “The Scottish Enlightenment and Public Governance of the Economic System”; and Don Matthews, “When the private pursuit of self-interest causes harm, according to Adam Smith,” with Jeffrey Young and Cecilia Miller as discussants.
Central APA Panel, April 2011.
The Society was very pleased to host Michael Gill (Arizona) as our featured speaker at our recent meeting in conjunction with the 2011 Central Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association held in Minneapolis in April. Professor Gill delivered a paper entitled "Moral Pluralism in Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments," and Colin Heydt (U. of South Florida) provided formal comments.
Association for Private Enterprise Education Meeting Panel, April 2011.
At the recent APEE meeting in the Bahamas, four new papers were presented on the panel "New Perspectives on Adam Smith": "Conjectural History as Emergent Justification," John Thrasher (Univ. of
Arizona); "Smith, Mandeville, and the Refashioning of Spontaneous Order,"
Brandon Turner (Clemson Univ.); "A Theory of the Nature and Causes of
Citizenship," Nicola Moore (Institute for Humane Studies); "Integrating
Trade into Smith's Theory of Language: Language as a Signal of Homogeneity,"
Diana W. Thomas (Utah State University).
Nicholas Phillipson's Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life, London, October 2010.
The Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary, University of London, sponsored a one-day symposium dedicated to Nicholas Phillipson's new biography of Adam Smith. Speakers included Duncan Kelly (Cambridge), Chandran Kukathas (LSE), Fonna Forman-Barzilai (San Diego), Ryan Hanley (Marquette), Craig Smith (St. Andrews), Istvan Hont (Cambridge) and Donald Winch (Sussex). Nicholas Phillipson generously provided concluding comments. Many thanks to Jeremey Jennings and QMUL for hosting the outstanding event.
Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies (ECSSS)/IASS Joint Conference, Princeton, June 2010.
IASS was very pleased to have an opportunity to consponsor the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society: "Thomas Reid, William Cullen and Adam Smith: The Science of Mind and Body in the Scottish Enlightenment." The conference featured several panels and rountables with many IASS members in attendance, as well as plenary addresses by Aaron Garrett and Guenter B. Risse. Both societies are deeply indebted to Gordon Graham and the Princeton Theological Seminary for hosting the event.
Central APA Panel, February 2010.
Paul Guyer (University of Pennsylvania) delivered a paper entitled "Adam Smith's Original Theory of Imitation" at the 2010 IASS meeting, held in conjunction with the Central Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Chicago. James Harris (University of St. Andrews) served as commentator.
Adam Smith and the Enlightenment, University of Athens, December 2009.
An outstanding conference was held in December 2009 at the University of Athens on "Adam Smith and the Enlightenment." Organizers Athanasia Glycofrydi-Leontsini and Dionysius Drosos organized a diverse collection of panels on topics ranging from Smith's contribution to the Scottish Enlightenment to Smith's European and especially Greek reception. A conference volume is forthcoming.
The Philosophy of Adam Smith, Balliol College, Oxford, January 2009.
The International Adam Smith Society, together with the Adam Smith Review, organized a conference at Balliol College, Oxford in January 2009 to mark the 250th anniversary of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Titled The Philosophy of Adam Smith, the conference featured plenary addresses by Stephen Darwall, Charles Griswold, David Raphael, Emma Rothschild, and Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, along with sessions at which almost 40 presentations were given. Topics ranged from Smith on the paradox of tragedy to Smith's influence on Hegel, with papers on a wide variety of topics in politics, moral psychology, theology, and history as well. A volume of selected papers has been published in volume 5 of the Adam Smith Review.