The Practical Morality of Life
Adam Smith, George Anne Bellamy, and the Theatre
How a scandalous actress influenced one of the greatest philosophers of the eighteenth century
The economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith was committed to ‘a practical system of Morality’. George Anne Bellamy was a well-known actress of the eighteenth century, who published a best-selling memoir. Coming from completely different backgrounds, they both keenly observed their world—human nature, morality and exchange.
Reading Smith’s final edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments in relation to the Apology of George Anne Bellamy illuminates many of Smith’s final revisions, in particular the impartial spectator, the temptations of ambition, the character of virtue and female education. Considering her book in relation to Smith deepens our understanding of her narrative strategies and the history of an early theatre near Glasgow. The book opens a vital window into the socio-historical context of Smith’s and broader enlightenment philosophies.
- Reading together the books of George Anne Bellamy and Adam Smith
- Illuminates Smith's writing about theatre in Wealth of Nations
- Bellamy's narrative strategies, and Smith's final emphasis on a 'practical system of Morality'
Acknowledgments
Timeline: Adam Smith and George Anne Bellamy in the Eighteenth Century
Introduction: Practical Morality in the Theatre of Life
1. Dramatic Acts: The Alston Street Playhouse and The Wealth of Nations
2. 'I must surely stand acquitted': The Impartial Spectator in Bellamy's Apology
3. Seeing What Smith Saw: Moral Judgment in The Theory of Moral Sentiments
4. 'Two different roads': Ambition in a World of Temptation
5. Smith's 'practical system of Morality': The Character of Virtue in Context
Works Cited
Some have noted Smith’s oddly pervasive metaphor of the stage, and all the men and women merely players, and spectators, too. Caroline Breashears’s brilliant book turns a spotlight upon why. Smith founded a “humanomics,” an economics with human life and literature left in. Breashears has found his muse.
Adam Smith owned and read the 1785 edition of Bellamy's Apology. Did Bellamy's remarkable work influence Smith's remarkable 1790 additions to The Theory of Moral Sentiments? Yes, argues this persuasive book. Smith's additions enhance his criticism of Stoicism, expand on how lively sensibility is vital to moral improvement, expand on veracity, and explore vanity. Breashears enters deeply into Smith's encounter with Bellamy and enriches our appreciation of what Smith wrote in the final years of his life.
