Back to Search
Start Over
Adam Smith's genealogy of religion.
- Source :
-
History of European Ideas . Oct 2021, Vol. 47 Issue 7, p1061-1078. 18p. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- This paper has three main aims. First, to make good on recent suggestions that Adam Smith offers a genealogy of the origins of religious belief. This is done by offering a systematic reconstruction of his account of religion in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, demonstrating that Smith there offers a naturalised account of religious belief, whilst studiously avoiding committing himself to the truth of any such belief. Second, I seek to bring out that Smith was ultimately less interested in the truth of religious beliefs than in evaluating and understanding the place of religion in healthy ethical living. Third, I put Smith's account into contrast with the more famous treatment offered by Nietzsche (as well as Bernard Williams's later, Nietzschean, reflections), and suggest that Smith offers us the more plausible picture of both religion and morality, a finding of both historical and contemporary philosophical import. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *GENEALOGY
*RELIGION
*HUMANITIES
*PHILOSOPHY
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01916599
- Volume :
- 47
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- History of European Ideas
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 153062865
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2020.1834280