Adam Smith as Solon: Accommodating on the edges of liberty, not abandoning it

Jacob Viner once observed, ?the one personal characteristic which all of [Smith?s] biographers agree in attributing to him is absent-mindedness, and his general principle of natural liberty seems to have been one of the things he was most absentminded about" ( Viner, 1927 , 228). Viner?s remark seems quite strange. How could the central principle of Smith?s work be what he was most likely to neglect? In a letter to Smith, the prominent French Physiocrat Dupont de Nemours provides us with one explanation for this This paper puts forth evidence that Adam Smith held liberty as a central principle, but also that he adopted an approach of strategic yielding and caution. Smith associated this accommodating approach with the Athenian official Solon, who put forth laws that attempted to be ?the best that the people can bear.? I argue that the view of Smith as Solon, accommodating where necessary, is underrepresented in the modern literature and is in contrast to views suggesting that the liberty principle was not so central to Smith?s teachings. This paper puts forth evidence that Adam Smith held liberty as a central principle, but also that he adopted an approach of strategic yielding and caution. Smith associated this accommodating approach with the Athenian official Solon, who put forth laws that attempted to be "the best that the people can bear." I argue that the view of Smith as Solon, accommodating where necessary, is underrepresented in the modern literature and is in contrast to views suggesting that the liberty principle was not so central to Smith's teachings. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.