Adam Smith: antidote to neoliberalism
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Abstract
This article seeks to establish a dialogue between Adam Smith’s oeuvre and Neoliberalism in its many aspects: its body of written work; how it deals with other thinkers and their written work; and its form of governing. Here we argue that Adam Smith has been coopted by neoliberal thinking to advance ideas that are in fact the contrary of those favored by Smith. His most famous quotes are purposefully misinterpreted, as their explicit meaning in the text is that all of human activity is determined by divine powers, which is anathema to neoliberal thinking, which elevates money and markets to the realm of the divine. Smith’s texts not only serve as evidence to neoliberalism’s deceptive ways, but also offer prescient warnings of how both religion and science can be captured by authorities and distorted to their will.
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