Tracking a Unicorn in Adam Smith’s Edinburgh
This is part of Reason‘s 2025 summer travel issue. Click here to read the rest of the issue.
Set among crags, hills, and Gothic spires, Edinburgh—also known as “Auld Reekie” or “Old Smokey”—was an unlikely center of progress in the 18th century: congested and smelly, with a sordid underground at the edge of an empire. Yet it was there that Adam Smith first published his Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759.
Three decades later, Smith finished the sixth and final edition after having returned to Edinburgh, shortly before his death in 1790, making it both his first and last major work. Since then, the book has served as a grounding for the practice of living well and peacefully with empathy for one another. As Smith wrote, “Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely.”
There is nowhere better to get re-acquainted with Smith than Edinburgh. Its past remains visible in the soot-covered buildings of Old Town. Beyond the cobbled wynds and imposing cliffside fortress, the city is now integrated with the surrounding New Town and its many gated private gardens. The place has stunning medieval, Georgian, and Victorian architecture, a rich history, and an evocative art scene. It’s little wonder it was named “Europe’s Leading Cultural City Destination 2024” by the World Travel Awards.
In Smith’s day, Edinburgh was the epicenter of the Scottish Enlightenment—the vital beating heart of liberal advances in science, medicine, mathematics, literature, legal reform, architecture, and moral philosophy. Scottish novelist, surgeon, and playwright Tobias Smollett described the burgeoning city as a “hot bed of genius.” John Amyatt, the king’s chemist, remarked that “Edinburgh enjoyed a noble privilege not possessed by any other city in Europe….Here stand I, at what is called the Cross of Edinburgh, and can in a few minutes take fifty men of genius by the hand.”
The Royal Unicorn atop the Mercat Cross now overlooks the world’s first major public monument to another unicorn—and the first true liberal, according to Deirdre McCloskey. The Adam Smith Institute led the initiative to honor Smith with a 10-foot bronze statue in the former marketplace in the center of Old Town. The same sculptor who erected that in 2008 also created the David Hume statue just across High Street. Smith’s likeness stands outside St. Giles’ Cathedral, gazing down the road to his final resting place and former home.
Coincident with the recent end of Adam Smith’s tercentenary was the 900-year anniversary of the cathedral and the city. In conjunction with these celebrations, economist Ryan Young of the Competitive Enterprise Institute published a collection of essays, Adam Smith’s Guide to Life, Loveliness, and the Modern Economy, arguing compellingly that a “revival of Smithian liberalism would make people’s lives longer, wealthier, and more fulfilli
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
