Poorly Interpreted Economists, Continued

Recently I linked to Angelica's post on Hayek. Today we see that Brad Delong has once again come out swinging in defense of Adam Smith:

This is, in fact, what Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments is about: how the feeble sparks of our "natural" tendencies to benevolence are fanned into roaring flames by our ability to reason, by our ability to imagine and put ourselves in the place of others, and by our education.

That's the entirety of Prof. Delong's commentary on the matter, but I liked it so I thought I'd pass it on.

It's worth mentioning that the Theory of Moral Sentiments (Adam Smith's other major work of philosophy) directly refutes all those who, like Hayek's acolytes in the 1980s, attempted to use Smith to justify the worst cruelties of the capitalist system.

All sane socialists have long since disavowed Mao or Stalin. Why is it capitalists have such a hard time being similarly honest about their intellectual history?

I personally think the best refutation of the myth of Adam Smith is still John Ralston Saul's The Unconscious Civilization.