German scholars are weird. Smith has really just whittled down to the ideology of free trade, Lou says. Sympathy in The Theory of Moral Sentiments doesn't entail or require any kind of altruism and other directedness,. It's perfectly compatible with people being self-interested.
Economists and politicians have turned him into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. Prepare for a very Smithy tug of war. (Part 2 of “In Search of the Real Adam Smith.”)