1-2附件03：Biography of Adam Smith.docVIP

Biography of Adam Smith Early life Smith was born to Margaret Douglas at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. His father, also named Adam Smith, was a lawyer, civil servant, and widower who married Margaret Douglas in 1720 and died two months before Smith was born.[1] Although the exact date of Smiths birth is unknown, his baptism was recorded on 5 June 1723 at Kirkcaldy.[2] Though few events in Smiths early childhood are known, Scottish journalist and Smiths biographer John Rae recorded that Smith was abducted by gypsies at the age of four and released when others went to rescue him.[N 1] Smith was close to his mother, who likely encouraged him to pursue his scholarly ambitions.[4] He attended the Burgh School of Kirkcaldy—characterised by Rae as one of the best secondary schools of Scotland at that period—from 1729 to 1737.[3] While there, Smith studied Latin, mathematics, history, and writing.[4] A commemorative plaque for Smith is located at Smiths home town of Kirkcaldy.[edit] Formal education Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was fourteen and studied moral philosophy under Francis Hutcheson.[4] Here, Smith developed his passion for liberty, reason, and free speech. In 1740, Smith was awarded the Snell exhibition and left to attend Balliol College, Oxford.[5] Smith considered the teaching at Glasgow far superior to that at Oxford, which he found intellectually stifling.[6] In Book V, Chapter II of The Wealth of Nations, Smith wrote: In the University of Oxford, the greater part of the public professors have, for these many years, given up altogether even the pretence of teaching. Smith is also reported to have complained to friends that Oxford officials once discovered him reading a copy of David Humes Treatise on Human Nature, and they subsequently confiscated his book and punished him severely for reading it.[3][7][8] According to William Robert Scott, The Oxford of [Smiths] time gave little if any help towards what was to be his lifework.[9] Nevertheless