After two centuries, Adam Smith remains a towering figure in the history of economic thought. Known primarily for a single work, An Inquiry into the nature

an causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) , the first comprehensive system of political economy, Smith is more properly regarded as a social philosopher whose

economic writings constitute only the capstone to an overarching view of political and social evolution. If his masterwork is viewed in relation to his earlier lectures on

moral philosophy and government, as well as to allusions in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) to a work he hoped to write on “the general principles of law and

government, and of the different revolutions they have undergone in the different ages and periods of society” , then The Wealth of Nations may be seen not merely as

a treatise on economics but as a partial exposition of a much larger scheme of historical evolution.