THE NURSE OF FANATICISM: ADAM SMITH ON THE ORIGIN OF ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT MOVEMENTS

Like other Enlightenment thinkers, Smith advocates education to combat popular ignorance as an antidote to fanaticism. However, he stands out from them as he sees fanaticism above all as a moral problem which has an economic solution. He attributes fanaticism to the emergence of anti-establishment movements driven by excessive resentment against the higher ranks of society and asserting excessively strict and unsocial moral standards against the more relaxed morals of established groups, accused of being corrupt. Smith's root solution to fanaticism can be found in the general improvement of living conditions which comforts people in the hope of bettering their situation. This hope leads people to gradually relax and adopt less rigid moral attitudes in contrast to the gloomy attitude of fanatics and their overly strict morals.