162. Benjamin Friedman — Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
The Michael Shermer Show
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Economists Have a World View
Sole's argument is that religious thinking was a very important contributor to the origins of western economics. But these people were celebrities in their own lifetime, we know lots about them biographically. And one thing we know for sure is that these were not religiously committed individuals. Hume was an outspoken opponent of any kind of organized religion. Most people, including me, think he was an atheist. Smith was more private about his personal religious beliefs. There's no reason to think that he had any deep religious commitment. As an american, i would think of him comparably to people like benjamin franklin and thomas jefferson. We think of them as deists to day. So
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