The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

Adam Smith's first major work, published in 1759, makes the case that human morality is grounded not in rational self-interest but in sympathy, the imaginative capacity to enter into the feelings of others. Building this foundation through careful observation of how people actually judge actions, both their own and others', Smith constructs a comprehensive moral psychology that anticipates much of modern social science and provides the philosophical underpinning for the economic work he would later undertake.

Michael Lunts narrates the eighteenth-century text with clarity and proper pacing, making Smith's philosophical arguments accessible without modernizing the prose's formal architecture. At just over sixteen hours, The Theory of Moral Sentiments rewards listeners who want to understand the full scope of Smith's thinking rather than the narrower caricature of him as the apostle of self-interest alone. The audio format handles the treatise's conversational examples particularly well.