Adam Smith's System of Liberty, Wealth, and Virtue analyses the influence of Smith's philosophy on his economic theories. It considers the significance of his Stoic beliefs, and examines his theories of art and science, of law and rhetoric, and of history, politics, and war. It shows how Smith based his system of thought on the heretical moral notion that virtue was relevant to this world rather than the next.

Smith believed that unworldly philosophies were inherently authoritarian, because they were unable to harness the force of self-love productively. Yet, contrary to a common view, he also rejected the amoral liberalism advocated by his friend and countryman David Hume. Smith's theories of free trade, economic growth, and alienation, which constitute the substance of The Wealth of Nations, were all formally derived from his liberalized interpretation of ancient virtue.

This book describes how Smith's economic theories were subsequently isolated from his philosophy and adapted to promote ends other than his own. The book will be of interest to economists, political theorists, philosophers, lawyers concerned with jurisprudence, and to all who have been intrigued by Adam Smith. It is clearly written; it puts Smith's theory of economic growth in a new light, and it reveals, for the first time, the principles that unified his world view.