Reply to My Critics

ttm grateful to my colleagues for their thoughtful and generous comnients on my Adam Smith and the ;Virtues of Enlightenment. Their reflections not only [?ring out important points of disagreement in our iinderstanding of Smith but also elicit issues of current concrirn raised by Smith’s work. It is, of course, the relevance of Smith’s thought to our self-understanding as the troubkd children of the Enlightenment and the philosophical dqpth of Smith’s thought that animate our interest in him. The contributors to this exchange have admirably illuminated the pressing issues and problems to which Smith’s worh ;is addressed.’ 1 sti~c this as an occasion for discussion not just about my book or about Smith but also about the issues his work raises. Rather than attempt a blow-by-blow response, 1 shall focus on a few of the central points that have been raised, with dhe aim of furthering dialogue among readers of this exchange.