Intertextuality and The Wealth of Nations : Contextualizing Adam Smith
In 1776 Adam Smith, the by-then famous author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, published his Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations. This long text traces the emergence of market economies, the expansion of trade, the rise of industrialization, and the ascent of meritocracy. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith investigates how these transformations reshape human interaction and the functioning of society at large. At the core of his empirical inquiry lies the tension between individual and communal interests, particularly as these are shaped by narratives of exchange, achievement, and progress from Mandeville and Defoe to Hume and Steuart.
This presentation aims to highlight Smith’s selective affinities with eighteenth-century fictional and philosophical narratives and, in doing so, approaches The Wealth of Nations as both a literary text and empirical study embedded in the intellectual discourse of the 18th century.