ABSTRACT
With different nuances, the Stoics’ influence on Adam Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment is generally taken for granted.1 The many references to the Stoics, mainly in Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS),2 and the importance of this classical tradition within the Scottish Enlightenment, have led scholars to acknowledge this apparently obvious influence. However, this influence is at times more elusive than obvious. If there are clear traces of this ‘famous sect’ (TMS Advertisement 1) in Smith’s legacy, first of all it is difficult to refer to Stoicism as one unified philosophical system, and secondly, some well-known features of Stoicism bluntly contradict Smith’s ethical conceptions.
