Politics and Economy Project
Director: Dr Craig Smith
The Centre has always been interested in issues concerning the nature and value of society, and has pursued various projects in aspects of political philosophy.
More than 30 of its visiting fellows have worked on topics and themes falling within these broad areas, and it has hosted conferences and symposia on various issues in social and political thought.
Only occasionally, however, has it engaged with issues in business and economics. Yet as well as being matters of deep interest within the Scottish intellectual tradition, made the subject of study by David Hume, Adam Smith, James Steuart, Adam Ferguson, William Ogilvie and others, business, commerce and economics are now the subject of much public debate.
Conscious of the new pressure to address ethical and other philosophical aspects of these matters the Centre recently published two collections of essays by philosophers, economists, historians and others: Profit, Prudence and Virtue: Essays in Ethics, Business and Management (2009) and Natural Law, Economics and the Common Good (2012, and is planning to publish a study of the ethics of lending and borrowing money: Usury (2013). For further information click on the cover images or book titles.
Against this background and as it proceeds in its second quarter century The Centre is now giving specific expression to this aspect of its activities by establishing the CEPPA Politics and Economy Project under the directorship of Dr Craig Smith.
Craig is lecturer in Philosophy. Previously he held a British Academy post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Politics at Glasgow University, where he had earlier completed his PhD in 2003. His areas of research interest are political philosophy, history of political thought, and the Scottish Enlightenment.
His publications include Adam Smith's Political Philosophy: The invisible hand and spontaneous order (2006) and Democracy and the Fall of the West co-authored with Tom Miers. He is also a contributor to wider policy debates as represented by the following items (click on titles to read the articles)
Policy Institute Papers
Saving Devolution – Practical Reform of the Constitutional Settlement in Scotland (pdf)
Restoring Liberties - Five Principles for a Liberal Constitution (pdf)
Taking Liberties – How Modern Democracy Leads to Big Government (pdf)
Electing Local Heroes - Seven Steps to Rejuvenate Local Government (pdf)