O Vasili's Wife, Nikita

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The novel is about a man who wants to sell his horse for money. He sees wormwood as a sign of mortality, but he doesn't see what it means. The recurrences in the story are meant to show us that we make mistakes over and over again because we're not paying attention.

Physician and careful reader Richard Gunderman of Indiana University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how Adam Smith and Leo Tolstoy looked at greed. Drawing on Tolstoy's short story, "Master and Man," and adding some Thomas Hobbes along the way, Gunderman argues that a life well-lived requires us to rise above our lower desires. Join Gunderman and Roberts for a sleigh ride into a snowy blizzard, where you won't find your way by following rules, but rather by recognizing what needs to be seen.