SOURCE: "The Scottish Tradition in Economic Thought," in The Individual in Society: Papers on Adam Smith, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1967, pp. 19–41.

In the following essay, Macfie places Smith and several other economists, including Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, and James and John Stuart Mill, within the historical context of the Scottish tradition in economic thought. Macfie emphasizes that their approach was sociological rather than analytical and that their methods were strongly influenced by the philosophy of Stoicism and the doctrine of natural law. Macfie's essay was originally delivered as a lecture at the Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Economic Society on March 14, 1955.

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This essay must start with a confession. In undertaking, some months ago, to submit an article on some such subject as 'The Scottish Tradition in Economic Thought', I was, it is now clear, in a state of not very creditable ignorance. I had then a...