  We prove how the universal enveloping algebra constructions for Lie-Rinehart
algebras and anchored Lie algebras are naturally left adjoint functors. This
provides a conceptual motivation for the universal properties these
constructions satisfy. As a supplement, the categorical approach offers new
insights into the definitions of Lie-Rinehart algebra morphisms, of modules
over Lie-Rinehart algebras and of the infinitesimal gauge algebra of a module.
