Political Economy and Philosophy, Then and Now: Reflections on The Wealth of Nations at 250

• Autores: Pilar Piqué
• Localización: Araucaria: Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política, Humanidades y Relaciones Internacionales, ISSN 1575-6823, ISSN-e 2340-2199, Vol. 28, Nº 63, 2026 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Japón / Inteligencia artificial, repoblación y arraigo del talento migrante en España), págs. 33-52
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Economía política y Filosofía: entonces y ahora. Reflexiones sobre La riqueza de las naciones en su 250º aniversario
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• Resumen
  • español

    Con motivo del doscientos cincuenta aniversario de la publicación de La riqueza de las naciones, este artículo reflexiona sobre la misión filosófica y la economía política de Adam Smith, y las contrasta con las trayectorias ulteriores de la filosofía y la economía. Inspirándose en la pregunta de Adorno acerca del significado del presente frente a los sistemas filosóficos del pasado, el artículo indaga qué luz arroja la empresa intelectual de Smith sobre la condición contemporánea de la economía política y la filosofía. Se reconstruye el proyecto ilustrado en el que se formó la obra de Smith, subrayando su aspiración a unificar los conocimientos universales relevantes y a orientar la economía política hacia las condiciones institucionales de una sociedad comercial bien gobernada. A partir de este marco, el artículo ofrece un recuento sinóptico de la progresiva fragmentación y profesionalización de la filosofía y la economía desde el siglo XIX hasta el presente. Se argumenta que, pese a notables avances analíticos y empíricos, la filosofía y la economía contemporáneas carecen en gran medida de la ambición integradora y sistemática que caracterizó el proyecto de Smith, dejando sin resolver interrogantes sobre la unidad del conocimiento y las condiciones institucionales del buen gobierno.

  • English

    On the occasion of the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations, this article reflects on Adam Smith's philosophical mission and political economy and contrasts it with the subsequent trajectories of philosophy and economics. Drawing inspiration from Adorno's question concerning the meaning of the present in the face of past philosophical systems, the paper asks what light Smith's intellectual enterprise sheds on the contemporary condition of political economy and philosophy. It reconstructs the Enlightenment project within which Smith's work was formed, emphasizing his aspiration to unify universally relevant knowledge and to orient political economy toward the institutional conditions of a well-governed commercial society. Against this background, the article offers a synoptic account of the progressive fragmentation and professionalization of philosophy and economics from the nineteenth century to the present. It argues that, despite remarkable analytical and empirical advances, contemporary philosophy and economics largely lack the integrative and systematic ambition that characterized Smith's project, leaving unresolved questions concerning the unity of knowledge and the institutional conditions of good government.

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