Adam Smith was a social philosopher and economist who wrote two masterworks, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). Adam Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on June 5,1723, he was baptized on June 5, 1723 and at the age of fur the young Adam was said to have been briefly abducted by gypsies. Adam Smith is often called the founder of modern economics. At the age of 14, Adam Smith entered Glasgow University to study moral philosophy, which was a common medieval practice. Glasgow University followed many medieval practices, such as admitting students at the age of 14, class starting at 7:30am and continuing till 11 when a quiz was given over the morning lecture. At 12 a lecture covering an optional topic was given. This was the typical medieval school day. During this period moral philosophy, ethics, Greek and mathematics were the cirrocumuli. After attending Glasgow University Adam Smith went on to attend Balliol College, Oxford, and remained there until 1746. In 1748 Smith began to deliver lectures in Edinburgh on wealth and its increase. In 1751 he was appointed professor of logic at Glasgow University. He became professor of moral philosophy at the Glasgow University in 1753. Smith lectured on ethics and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759. This book brought him much fame but little fortune. The Theory of Moral Sentiments "(was about those standards of ethical conduct that hold society together, with emphasis on the general harmony of human motives and activities under a beneficent Providence" (Ross). Economists typically regarded it as a theory of unselfish behavior that has little bearing on economic theory. Contrary to this view, it is argued that The Theory of Moral Sentiments provides a specific foundation of Smith's economic theory and that this foundation is essentially a theory of basic social institutions.
