Political Economy in The Mirror of Physics Adam Smith and Isaac Newton

POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE MIRROR OF PHYSICS: ADAM SMITH
AND ISAAC NEWTON

Arnaud Diemer, Hervé Guillemin
Armand Colin | « Revue d’histoire des sciences »
2011/1 Volume 64 | pages 5 - 26

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ISBN 9782200926878
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Political Economy in the Mirror
of Physics:
Adam Smith and Isaac Newton
Arnaud DIEMER*
Hervé GUILLEMIN**

Abstract: While Adam Smith is usually presented as the father of po-
litical economy for his book The Wealth of Nations (1776), we tend to
forget that he is also the author of a History of Astronomy, in which he
showed an interest in the major representations of the universe from

Greek antiquity to Newton. His knowledge of the theories advocated by
the English physicist helped him build his representation of the world of
man in its moral, social, political, and economic aspects. Smith resorted
more or less explicitly to Newton’s work to solve theoretical issues (such
as the theory of value in political economy) but also to explain his con-
ception of the constitution and regulation of society (the principle of
sympathy, or the principle of the invisible hand). In fact, Newtonian
physics is better suited than that of Descartes to supporting a liberal vi-
sion. The law of attraction applied to the social world made it possible
to avoid recourse to state intervention in the economy or to the social
contract in the constitution of society.
Key Words: attraction; gravity; invisible hand; sympathy; morality.
Résumé : Si Adam Smith est généralement présenté comme le père

del’économie politique, on oublie qu’il est également l’auteur d’une
Histoirede l’astronomie dans laquelle il montre son intérêt pour les
principalesreprésentations de l’univers de l’Antiquité grecque jusqu’à
Newton. Saparfaite connaissance des thèses défendues par le physi-
cien anglais luisera utile pour construire sa représentation du monde
des hommes dansses dimensions morale, sociale, politique et écono-
mique. Adam Smith utiliseraplus ou moins explicitement les travaux de
Newton pour résoudredes questions théoriques spécifiques (la théorie
* Université Blaise-Pascal, 34 Avenue Carnot, BP 185, 63006 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex.

E-mail: arnaud.diemer@univ-bpclermont.fr
** Université Reims-Champagne-Ardenne, Faculté des Sciences Économiques, Sociales, et
de Gestion, 57 1/2 Rue Pierre-Taittinger, 51096 Reims Cedex.
E-mail: herve.guillemin@univ-reims.fr
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 I

Arnaud DIEMER and Hervé GUILLEMIN
de la valeur en économiepolitique) mais également pour expliquer sa

conception de la constitutionet de la régulation de la société (principe
de la sympathie, principe de lamain invisible). La physique newtonienne
apparaît mieux adaptée au projetsmithien que celle de Descartes. Elle
semble être plus en mesure desoutenir un projet économique et poli-
tique libéral. La loi de l’attractionappliquée au monde social évite le
recours à l’intervention de l’État dansl’économie et au pacte social dans
la constitution de la société.
Mots-clés : attraction ; gravitation ; main invisible ; sympathie ; philo-

sophiemorale.
Europe in the eighteenth century benefited from a kind of intel-

lectual radiance, begun by the French Encyclopedists and by rep-

resentatives of the Scottish tradition. In effect, Scotland was the
meeting point of two traditions, representing the thinking of the
century of the Enlightenment as a whole, including the philoso-
phy of natural rights of Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf1 as
taught by Francis Hutcheson (who published A Short Introduction
to Moral Philosophy in 1747) as well as the natural philosophy

of Isaac Newton, popularized by Colin Maclaurin (who published
An Account of Isaac Newton’s Philosophical Discoveries in 1748).
The latter generated such interest and admiration that it came to
constitute the “great intellectual affair of the century: …the appli-
cation of the experimental and geometrical method of Newton to
the study of human nature, now stripped of the trappings of the-
ology.”2 Even if explicit references to Newton’s natural philosophy
and to Newton himself are rare in Adam Smith’s works of moral
philosophy and political economy (Newton’s name appears only
once in The Theory of Moral Sentiments3 and it is totally absent
from The Wealth of Nations),4 many historians of science (includ-
ing Serge Moscovici,5 John Greene,6 Gerd Buchdahl,7 and Herbert
1  -  Peter Stein, “The General Notions of Contract and Property in Eighteenth Century
Scottish Thought,” The Juridical Review 8(1), 1963: 1-13.
2  -  Gérard Jorland, “Le problème Adam Smith,” Annales, Histoire, Sciences Sociales 39(4),
1984: 831-48, 832.
3  -  Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759-1790). Citations from this work
below refer to Book, Chapter, and Paragraph.
4  -  Adam Smith, An Inquiry in the Nature and Causes of the The Wealth of Nations (1776).
Citations from this work below refer to Book, Chapter, and Paragraph.
5  -  Serge Moscovici, “À propos de quelques travaux d’Adam Smith sur l’histoire et la
philosophie des sciences,” Revue d’Histoire des Sciences et de leurs Applications 9(1),
1956: 1-20.
6  -  John Greene, Darwin and the Modern World View (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State
University, 1961).
7  -  Gerd Buchdahl, The Image of Newton and Locke in the Age of Reason (London: Sheed
and Wards, 1961).
II
Political Economy in the Mirror of Physics
Thomson8) have not hesitated to draw parallels between Newton’s

work in physics and that of Smith in the field of political econ-
omy. These similarities illustrate two interdependent phenomena:
the secret ambition of all scholars, whatever their field of inquiry,
to imitate Newton, and Smith’s efforts to discover general laws of
economy, inspired by the success of Newton and his discovery of
the natural laws of motion.9
This paper, which consists of three parts, aims to demonstrate the

kinship between the work of Smith and that of Newton. In the
first section, we show how admiration for Newton comes through
explicitly in Smith’s History of Astronomy.10 It is through this man-

uscript that Smith develops his vision of the progress of science
and reveals his conception of philosophical research.11 In the sec-
ond section, we clarify the influence of Newton on Smith’s mor-
al philosophy and political economy. We show that Smith uses
Newton’s laws to resolve economic questions and that there are
close connections between the material world (the world of bod-

ies) as viewed by Newton and the world of men as viewed by
Smith. In the third section, we explain why Newton’s physics was
better suited to Smith’s project than was that of René Descartes.
Smith’s Subtle Understanding of the History

of Natural Science
Adam Smith was well acquainted with the work of most physicists
concerning the earth and the heavens, from Antiquity to the eigh-
teenth century. Between 1748 and 1758, he was drawn to write a
History of Astronomy, in which he clearly expressed his admira-
tion for the great physicists along with his adherence to the theses
defended by Newton.12 This History of Astronomy is noteworthy
8  -  Herbert Thomson, “Adam Smith’s Philosophy of Science,” Quarterly Journal of
Economics 79, 1965: 212-33.
9  -  Norriss Hetherington, “Isaac Newton’s Influence on Adam Smith’s Natural Laws in
Economics,” Journal of the History of Ideas 44(3), 1983: 497-505.
10 - Adam Smith, The History of Astronomy (Glasgow Editions, 1795); in Essays on
Philosophical Subjects, vol. 3, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980). Page references
are to the Glasgow edition of 1795.
11 - Jean Dellemotte, “Gravitation et sympathie: L’essai smithien d’application du modèle
newtonien à la sphère sociale,” Cahiers d’Économie Politique 42, 2002: 49-72.
12 - Notably, Smith’s moral philosophy professor was Hutcheson, known for promoting
Newton’s principles in fields beyond physics. See Margaret Schabas, “Adam Smith’s
Debts to Nature,” History of Political Economy 35(1), 2003: 262-81.
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 III

in two respects. First, it allows him to trace the history of celestial

physics over a long period, form Greek Antiquity to the eighteenth
century, and second, it provides him with a pretext for explaining
the advances made by science in general (and not just physics).
Smith shows how and why we move from one explanatory system
(which played a role for a period of time but which no longer sat-
isfies expectations) to another, more effective system (which will
itself be ultimately replaced). Smith also capitalizes on the oppor-
tunity to explain what he calls a “system of interpretation,” that is,
an intellectual construct intended to provide a representation of
the real but that should not be confused with the real.13 In addition,
he lays out for us the characteristics of a good system, or at least

a system that is better than the alternatives. As we shall see, all of
these elements concerning the most advanced state of physics will
have their more or less explicit reflection in Smith’s philosophical
and economic work.
Four systems are highlighted in Smith’s History of Astronomy,

as follows. The first is the system that prevailed up to the time of
Aristotle. The Greek philosophers (Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle) liked
to think that the world could be represented as a sphere, which
was held to be a perfect geometric figure. Greek cosmology was
thus based on what we have come to call a system of concentric
spheres. The second system was developed by Apollonius and then
taken up and improved upon by Hipparchus and Ptolemy. This is
a system of epicycles and eccentric spheres. Smith sees this sys-
tem in a way that applies to all systems and calls it an “imaginary
machine.” However, the complexity of the Ptolemaic system of
eccentric spheres along with the inability to be reconcile it with
Aristotle’s system of concentric spheres led in turn to the emer-
gence of a third system, that of Nicolaus Copernicus. This system,
which was also seen as a machine, was used to explain appearanc-
es. Although it had the virtue of being simpler and more effective
than the earlier system and despite its coherence, the Copernican
system ran into a problem that was not posed by the geocentric
systems. The motion of the Earth, both around the Sun and on its
own axis, flew in the face of common sense: how to explain that
this double movement would not cause clouds to fall behind the
13 - Dusan Pokorny, “Smith and Walras: Two theories of science,” The Canadian Journal of
Economics 11(3), 1978: 387-403.
IV
spin of the planet, or a rock to deviate from a vertical descent when

dropped from the top of a tower? The problems of comprehension
attached to the Copernican system led to research intended to make
it totally plausible. Among the thinkers who contributed the most
to the perfectioning of this system, Smith cites Johannes Kepler,
Galileo Galilei, and above all Descartes. According to Smith, it is
Descartes’s system that paved the way for the fourth great model,
that of Newton. The Newtonian system is described as capable of
explaining observed phenomena with a more limited number of
basic principles and of predicting future developments accurately.
Adam Smith expresses his heart-felt admiration for Newton in the
final paragraph of Section Four of the History of Astronomy, when

he writes that,
His system, however, now prevails over all opposition of the most
universal empire that was ever established in philosophy. His prin-
ciples, it must be acknowledged, have a degree of firmness and
solidity that we should in vain look for in any other system. The
most skeptical cannot avoid feeling this.14
The Influence of Newton’s Work on Smith’s Moral,

Social, and Political Philosophy
We can discern links between Smith’s moral philosophy and po-
litical economy and Newton’s natural philosophy on two levels.
First, a careful reading of Smith enables us to observe a series of
connections between laws, axioms, and conclusions as elaborated
or taken up by Newton and the analyses of economic and social
phenomena put forth by Smith. Next, and most importantly, we see
that the general schema of Newton’s natural philosophy is in line
with Smith’s general schema of moral, social, and political philos-
ophy. In other words, Newtonian physics is a good instrument for
understanding the central question that runs through all of Smith’s
work, namely that of the constitution and regulation of society.
Before presenting the relations between the works of Smith and

those of Newton in a more precise manner, it will be helpful to say
something about the nature of these relations. As we already noted,
there is no doubt that Smith felt admiration for Newton’s physics.
14 - Smith, History of Astronomy, 76.
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 V

However, it would be erroneous to say that Smith was simply trans-

posing Newton’s system from the science of nature to the science
of society. Smith’s approach was more subtle. To apply Newtonian
principles precipitously to a different object than that for which
it had been devised would have inevitably meant engaging in a
spirit of systematization Newton and Smith both condemned in
the strongest terms. Smith expresses his distrust of theoretical sys-
tems founded upon analogy by arguing that these systems have
universally owed their origin to the lucubrations of those who were
acquainted with the one art, but ignorant of the other.15
Although it is never stated, the reference to Newtonian physics

is not a ploy, a distortion of Newton’s thought with the aim of
applying it to the social world. Nor is it a distortion of the so-
cial world to make it resemble the world of terrestrial or celestial
bodies. Smith takes the social world as it is, or as he perceives
it, considering it as its own proper object. From this perspective,

like the world of material bodies, the social world is a product of
nature, a divine creation. The fact that they both emerge from a
common matrix generates a kind of kinship. To understand them
well, we must remember that for Smith, nature is characterized
by a certain harmony, an order that rests upon a simple principle.
For Newton, this fundamental principle is the universal attraction
of bodies toward themselves as well as one another.16 For Smith,
there is no reason why there should not be a comparable princi-
ple pertaining to the world of men. The similarities between the
structure of the material world and that of the human world are
neither the product of lucubrations nor the result of chance but a
consequence of the unity of the world. However, before demon-
strating the kinship between Smith’s vision of the social world and
Newton’s vision of the material world, we need to lay out a whole
series of possible connections between Smith’s economic work
and a number of Newton’s great laws. In particular, it should be
noted that the exposition of the three chapters in The Wealth of
Nations that interest us here follows the same sequence as the
exposition of Newton’s three laws.
15 - Smith, History of Astronomy, 47.

16 - Milo Keynes, “The Personality of Isaac Newton,” Notes and Records of the Royal
Society of London (49)1, 1995: 1-56.
VI
The Laws of Physics as They Illustrate the Treatment of Some

Essential Economic Questions
The connection with Newton appears clearly in Chapters V, VI, and
VII of Book I of The Wealth of Nations.17 Each of these three chap-
ters seems to have a kinship with one of the great laws developed
by Newton in his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.18
Chapter V, entitled “Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities,
or of their Price in Labor, and their Price in Money,” refers – though
not explicitly – to the law of inertia. Chapter VI, “Of the Component
Parts of the Price of Commodities,” can be compared to the law of
force. Finally, Chapter VII, “Of the Natural and Market Price of
Commodities,” employs the law of reciprocal actions (action-reac-

tion) and the concept of gravity.
The Law of Inertia and the Question of Value

Newton’s Principia has the peculiarity of not beginning with Book
I but with two rubrics entitled “Definitions” and “Axioms, or Laws

of Motion.” The law of inertia is the first of the three laws in the
rubric dedicated to the axioms, or laws of motion.19 These are
the three laws that we see as paralleling certain developments in
Smith’s work. The law (or principle) of inertia stipulates that “Every
body perseveres in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right
line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed
thereon.”20 It is interesting to relate this to the third definition pre-
sented by Newton in the opening lines of the Principia, which
states that,
“The Vis Insita, or Innate Force of Matter, is a power of resisting,

by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavors to persevere
in its present state, whether it be of rest, or of moving uniform-
ly forwards in a right line.”21 Newton’s own commentary on the
third definition allows us to appreciate the distinction he hopes
17 - Jean Mathiot, Adam Smith: Philosophie et économie (Paris: Presses Universitaires de

France, 1990), 106.
18 - Isaac Newton, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica [Mathematical Principles
of the Philosophy of Nature], (London, 1687), abbreviated below as Principia.
References are to Newton’s original divisions, clearly announced in the text of this
essay.
19 - The “Definitions” section contains eight definitions.
20 - Newton, Principia.
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 VII

to introduce between resistant force (when a body opposes that

which wants to make it change its state) and impulsive force (when
a body tries to change the state of an obstacle that resists it):
This force is always proportional to the mass of the body whose

force it is; and it differs from the inertia of the mass only in our
manner of conceiving it. For inertia is what makes it difficult to
put a body out of its current state, whether of rest or of motion. On
account of which, this resident force (vis insita) may be called by a
most significant name, the force of inertia (vis inertiæ).22
The internal force of matter, or the force of inertia, is a force of

resistance. It allows a body to remain in its state. As such it is a

measure of stability. So long as no external force (vis impressa) ar-
rives to exert itself on the body, the latter remains in its state of rest
or uniform rectilinear motion.23
In Chapter V of The Wealth of Nations, Smith poses the question

of the nature of value in a society where the division of labor is

present:
The value of any commodity, therefore, to the person who pos-

sesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, but to
exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labor
which it enables him to purchase or command.24
This is what is known as the labor theory of value. In this way,

work would serve as the true measure of the exchange value of
any merchandise. Smith then justifies his labor theory of value by
relying on Thomas Hobbes’s thesis,25 according to which wealth
resides in power:
“… it is the power of purchasing; a certain command over all the

labor, or over all the produce of labor which is then in the mar-
ket.”26 It is to be noted that the labor theory of value corresponds
only indirectly to a substantialist approach to value since value is
23 - See the fourth definition in the “Definitions” rubric.
24 - Smith, Wealth of Nations I.V.1.
25 - Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common Wealth
Ecclesiasticall and Civil (1651).
26 - Smith, Wealth of Nations I.V.3.
VIII
defined as the power to command the work of another and there-

fore can be said to resemble a force.
The connection with Newton’s law of inertia becomes more

obvious when Smith clarifies that work is not always used to
assess the value of a good or goods. In fact, it is very difficult
to compare different kinds of labor since beyond the question
of the time invested, we also need to factor in the questions of
capacity, fatigue, qualification, and talent. The solution to the
balancing of different forms of work is found in an approximate
way, Smith tells us, “by the higgling [sic] and bargaining of the
market.” Bargaining leads to a “rough equality” that “though not

exact” is nonetheless close enough for the purpose of carrying
out the ordinary business of life. Moreover, trade rarely involves
a piece of merchandise exchanged for work but rather the ex-
change of goods among themselves, and the trading of goods is
accomplished by means of money. Consequently, the problem

is complicated to the degree that as with all goods, gold and
silver see their value and thus their power fluctuate with respect
to other goods. Thus the reality of trade relates to the idea of ap-
proximation, as haggling is rather imprecise, and the mediation
of money is itself a fluctuating phenomenon. Yet, it is necessary
that there be a kind of standard so that trade is fair in broad
terms. It is not money that ensures the stability of the system.
No one imagines that a unit of measurement of length such as
the meter should be variable. The only trustworthy reference for
the measurement of commodities is the value of labor, which for
Smith is the basis of inertia for the size of the exchange value of
commodities. Only labor possesses the value needed to stand as
a reference in measurable terms:
Labor alone, therefore, never varying in its own value, is alone the
ultimate and real standard by which the value of all commodities
can at all times and places be estimated and compared. It is their
real price; money is their nominal price only.27
Labor is like Newton’s vis insita because it allows us to define the

stable condition of a good, that is, its real price beyond the impre-
cision of trade and the fluctuations in the value of money. In fact,
27 - Smith, Wealth of Nations, I.V.7.
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 IX

these elements are revealed as forces unable to modify the state (or
the fundamental value) of the commodity.
The Law of Force and the Modification of Natural Price

We must first address this connection by keeping in mind what was
said previously about the state of inertia of value being defined by
a given quantity of work. The value of a commodity remains what
it is despite the approximate or imprecise character of trade and
currency fluctuations.
The second law of motion declares that, “Alteration of motion is

always proportional to the motive force impressed and it is made in

the direction of the straight line in which that force is impressed.”28
This law of force can be compared to Chapter VI of The Wealth of

Nations, which is entitled “Of the Component Parts of the Price
of Commodities.” In this chapter, Smith focuses on the compo-

nents of price. The problem of the frame of reference for trade is
relatively simple in the “early and rude state of society,”29 which
is to say when there exists neither capital nor stock nor private
property. Here, the only possible reference point for the trade of
commodities is the amount of work that was expended to produce
the good. However, the question becomes more complex once so-
ciety is at an “advanced state” since the product of a wage-earner’s
labor does not return to him in its entirety. The wage-earner must
often share the product of his labor with the owner of the stock (or
capital) that employs him. Here, we should remember that Smith
is proposing a theory of natural value or price that refers simulta-
neously to the quantity of labor we can command and the sum of
the components of the distribution or division of labor (the “add-
ing-up” type of theory).
As the three constituent parts of price – labor, profits, rents – can

vary, so their variation will entail change in the price of goods. A
comparison can be made with Newton’s physics, where a body
at rest (or in uniform rectilinear motion), being characterized by a
certain inertia, is put into motion or changes trajectory if at least
one of the forces to which it is subject varies. The first state finds its
29 - Smith, Wealth of Nations I.VI.1.
X
twin in Smith in his definition of real price, where the real value or
real price is determined by the labor we can command (in a “civ-
ilized” society) and a level of normal remuneration for the three
components of distribution. The second state involves change in
the components – labor, profits, rents – of the distribution, which
are also the elements constituting the price of goods. The com-
ponent parts of price that play the role of forces that can modify
the first state are defined logically according to the same frame of
reference as price or real value, namely labor:
The real value of all the different component parts of price, it must
be observed, is measured by the quantity of labor which they can,

each of them, purchase or command. Labor measures the value
not only of that part of price which resolves itself into labor, but of
that which resolves itself into rent, and of that which resolves itself
into profit.30
The Law of Reciprocal Actions, Gravity, Natural Price,

and Market Price
The third law, called the law of reciprocal actions, stipulates that
“To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the
mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal,
and directed to contrary parts.”31 Newton adds that “any body
that draws or presses another is as much drawn or pressed by that
other.”32
As for the law of gravity, it appears in Proposition 7 of Book III of

the Principia: “There is a power of gravity tending to all bodies,
proportional to the several quantities of matter which they con-
tain.” In Corollary II to this proposition, Newton clarifies that “the
force of gravity towards the several equal particles of any body, is
reciprocally as the square of the distance of places from the par-
ticles.” However, Book III of the Principia does not have the same
status as the two earlier books, which laid out the principles of
natural philosophy, while the third involves a kind of application
of these principles to the “general system of the world.” The central
law of this explication of the general system of the world is the law
of universal gravitation.
30 - Smith, Wealth of Nations, I.VI.9.
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 XI

Reference to Newton clearly appears in The Wealth of Nations

Book I Chapter VII, entitled, “Of the Natural and Market Prices of
Commodities.” Smith initially defines the natural price of a com-
modity by considering that in each society there is an average or
ordinary rate for profits, land rents, and wages. If commodities are
sold at a price that corresponds to what must be paid for wages,
profits, and rents at the same time and at their natural rates, we can
say that the price of the commodity is its natural price. This price
defines what the commodity really costs, or is worth, and this is
what corresponds to the state of inertia discussed above. However,
the price at which the commodity is actually sold is the market
price. Depending on circumstances, this can be higher or lower

than the natural price. What is it therefore that produces these de-
viations? Smith answers that,
The market price of every particular commodity is regulated by

the proportion between the quantity which is actually brought to
market, and the demand of those who are willing to pay the natural
price of the commodity, or the whole value of the rent, labor, and
profit, which must be paid in order to bring it thither.33
Adam Smith thus explains that the disproportion between the

amount of goods available and the amount being demanded will
lead to variation in the price and therefore to a deviation of the mar-
ket price relative to the natural price. When the quantity brought
to market exceeds demand, the market price “will sink” below
the natural price, and when the quantity available is insufficient
to meet demand, the market price “will rise” to varying degrees
above the natural price. Of course, when the quantity brought to
market exactly suffices to meet the effective demand, “the market
price naturally comes to be either exactly, or as nearly as can be
judged of, the same with the natural price… The competition of the
different dealers obliges them all to accept of this price, but does
not oblige them to accept of less.”34
Naturally, the quantity of each good that is brought to market tends

to be proportionate to the extent possible with the amount that
is effectively being demanded, with any discrepancies playing
the role of an incentive to find the right proportion. The natural
33 - Smith, Wealth of Nations, I.VII.8.
XII
price plays the role of a “central price” toward which the price of
commodities is “continually gravitating.” However, circumstances
sometimes cause the gap between market and natural prices to last
for some time, but “whatever may be the obstacles which hinder
them from settling in this center of repose and continuance, they
are constantly tending towards it.”35 The market price can be com-
pared to a heavenly body that gravitates around another body but
whose orbit is irregular. Sometimes, it comes closer to the prin-
cipal attracting body (the real value), and sometimes it distances
itself for a time under the effect of attraction by other forces (when
the supply and demand of the commodity are not in balance). Of
course, we should see in this example not a strict analogy but the

image of a physical phenomenon used to illustrate an economic
phenomenon.
Implicit Comparison between the World of Bodies

and the World of Men

To get a more global perspective on Smith’s work, we need to refer
not only to The Wealth of Nations but also and above all to The
Theory of Moral Sentiments. We will find in these works a general
schema that is close to that of the Principia, with the connections
relating to both form (or approach) and content.
Recall that Smith establishes an analogy between an interpretive

system and a machine, but also that he defends the thesis that
succeeding explanatory systems gain in both efficiency (with a
new system explaining more things than its predecessor) as well
as simplicity (with a complex machine giving way to a machine
running on a few simple principles, or indeed only one, as in the
case of Newton’s physics). It is highly likely that Smith applied this
reasoning to social analysis. What is the principle that regulates
social relations? Like Newton, Smith seeks to trace the phenom-
ena he studies back to their first cause. His main line of inquiry
always relates to the constitution and regulation of society even if
the question is treated from different angles in his works of moral
philosophy and political economy. How is it that individuals or
social classes with different interests and social practices continue
to live together most of the time in a state of relative harmony?
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 XIII

Two connections between the human and the physical worlds

emerge from a comparative reading of Smith’s and Newton’s texts.
Egotistical sentiments can be likened to self-gravitation, and so-
cial relations compared to the mutual attraction of bodies to each
other. We should also note that for Newton, the two physical phe-
nomena arise from the same general principle, namely the law of
attraction. Just as material bodies conserve their cohesion (that is,
they do not disperse) and their place in the universe, the society
of men reconciles what is important to the conservation of the self
with relative social harmony. Men can at least partly preserve their
particular interests without society falling into a permanent state
of chaos.

In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, it is the feeling of sympathy
that takes the leading role or serves as the first cause. Practically,
the work is built upon this notion. For Smith, this plays the role
in the social world played for Newton by universal attraction in

the world of material bodies. However, there is a significant dif-
ference between Smith’s principle and Newton’s. If Newtonian
attraction is unique, Smith’s sympathy is polymorphous, which
demonstrates that Smith is neither dealing in simple analogy nor
passively imitating his physicist colleague. His concept allows him
to call into question theories of egoism (Thomas Hobbes, Bernard
Mandeville)36 by postulating that men, although egotistical, natu-
rally possess a tendency to become interested in others and that
this non-indifference contributes to their own happiness and to
(relative) social harmony.  For Smith, the sentiment of sympathy is
a quality present in all men, including even the “worst of villains.”
Sympathy linked to the imagination makes us feel indirectly the
joys and pains of our fellow human beings and allows us to carry
the feelings of others into our selves and to understand the sen-
sations of those we observe. Through numerous examples, Smith
demonstrates that sympathy is involved in all types of passions in
others, both good and bad.37 Thus, the feeling of sympathy is part
of human nature, even if this does not mean that it is expressed
independently of the will. In particular circumstances, a spectator
will make an effort of the imagination to understand the sentiments
36 - Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees: First Part (1714).

37 - Jan Horst Keppler, L’économie des passions selon Adam Smith: Les noms du père
d’Adam (Paris: Kimé, 2008).
XIV
of another in order to better share his joy or distress. Thus Smith’s

sympathy is implicated immediately within a reciprocal relation-
ship:
But whatever may be the cause of sympathy, or however it may be

excited, nothing pleases us more than to observe in other men a
fellow-feeling with all the emotions of our own breast; nor are we
ever so much shocked as by the appearance of the contrary.38
Sympathy thus appears to be a game of multiple perspectives. The

actor is drawn by sympathy to see events through the lens of a
spectator, while the spectators, through their own sympathy, are
put in the place of the actor by means of imagination. The propri-

ety or impropriety of an action depends therefore on the agree-
ment or disagreement between the passions of the actor and the
emotions experienced by the spectator through the mediation of
sympathy.
Later on, Smith proposes a classification of the passions that al-

lows us to understand how egotistical sentiments and social co-
hesion function. The passions tied to the imagination are subdi-
vided into three classes. At the two extremes are asocial passions
such as hate and resentment and social passions such as human-
ity, generosity, goodness, and friendship. Between these two are
the egotistical passions, which are neither harmful, such as those
of the asocial type, nor agreeable, such as those of the social
type. The egotistical passions take the form of “[g]rief and joy,
when conceived upon account of our own private good or bad
fortune.”39 
Their appreciation by Smith is unambiguous: even if they are appro-

priate, they are “never so agreeable as just benevolence, because
no double sympathy can ever interest us for them.”40 For instance,
the admiration we can feel for someone who has quickly become
rich is not true since sincere sympathy gives way to envy, even if
the person involved makes an effort to appear humble. Although
through sympathy we may feel the griefs and pains of others strong-
ly, Smith demonstrates that our sympathy is more authentic when
38 - Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.I.14.
39 - Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.II.32.
40 - Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.II.32.
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 XV

it relates to pleasure. Sympathy is more than sensitivity to others:

it is a question of harmony between the feelings of the spectator
and those of the actor. This point is the key to understanding the
quest for power and wealth: “It is because mankind are disposed
to sympathize more entirely with our joy than with our sorrow, that
we make parade of our riches, and conceal our poverty.”41
Thus, the quest for wealth does not originate in the desire to live
better materially. Material well-being is not an end, and when we
consider the matter carefully, a decent living in this respect is with-
in the grasp of the “meanest laborer.” The quest for wealth is not a
response to the “necessities of nature,” as the rich man’s stomach

is no larger than the poor man’s. Rather, the race for honors and
wealth is the product of sympathetic sentiment: “To be observed,
to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacen-
cy, and approbation, are all… advantages which we can propose
to derive from it.”42
In Smith’s terms, it is vanity and not well-being or pleasure that

drives the pursuit of wealth.
Thus it is not sympathy in its initial form, that of non-indifference

to others, but rather in its derivative forms43 that allows us to under-
stand why we live together despite our differences in wealth and
talent and our divergent interests. The natural tendency to sympa-
thize more strongly with the happiness of others than with their
misfortune generates the conditions by which men will seek and
pursue the admiration of others. The same schema is present in The
Wealth of Nations. It is the propensity to trade that plays the role
of first cause:
This division of labor, from which so many advantages are derived,

is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees
and intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It
is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of
a certain propensity in human nature which has in view no such
41 - Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.III.6.

42 - Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.III.16.
43 - David Campbell, Adam Smith’s Science of Morals (London: Allen and Unwin, 1971);
John Lindgren, “Review of Adam Smith’s Science of Morals,” Journal of the History of
Philosophy 10(4), 1972: 481-2.
XVI
extensive utility; the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one

thing for another.44
The feeling of sympathy and the propensity to trade fall into the
same category,45 both of which are related to non-indifference
to others and to the need human beings have of each other.
Smith’s man is very much a social animal. Although imperfect,
the social process ensures the coexistence of the powerful and
the humble. However, the imperfection of the system relative
to social relations that might be founded upon benevolence or
friendship is not synonymous with weakness or instability. On
the contrary, the consequence is not only acceptable, but Smith

even considers that the system must be preserved because it is
definitely simpler and more effective that a system produced by
the imagination alone. To preserve it means rejecting idealist sys-
tems along with the social constructivist visions that stem from
idealism. The Theory of Moral Sentiments ends with a caution
against the possible excesses of political idealism. Clearly, this

is first and foremost a work that defends a naturalistic approach
to the human world in the widest sense, standing against the
theses of even some authors for whom Smith has great respect
and admiration. Here, we are thinking of course of the political
philosophy and the social contract theory of John Locke.46 The
feeling of sympathy in its various inflections avoids the need for
recourse to the different forms of the social contract, whether in
its authoritarian (that of Hobbes) or its liberal versions (that of
Locke).47 The prudent transposition and adaptation of the orga-
nizing principle of the material and celestial worlds to the world
of men resolves the problem of the constitution and regulation
of society by avoiding risky and uncertain social and political
constructions.
The mechanism known as the “invisible hand,” which is indisso-

ciable from sympathy, is present in The Theory of Moral Sentiments
44 - Smith, The Wealth of Nations, I.2.1.
45 - Jean Dellemotte, “Sympathie, désir d’améliorer sa condition et penchant à l’échange,”
Cahier d’Économie Politique 48, 2005: 51-78.
46 - Arnaud Diemer and Hervé Guillemin, “La place du travail dans la pensée lockienne,”
In Christophe Lavialle, ed., “Regards croisés sur le travail: Histoires et théories”:
Proceedings of the colloquium of the Charles-Gide International Association for
Economic Thought, 2008. (Orléans: Presses Universitaires d’Orléans, 2011).
47 - John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689).
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 XVII

and in The Wealth of Nations. It is a metaphor that also aims to

reinforce the naturalist approach and protect against idealism. The
invisible hand, the mechanism that ensures a connection between
the interests of each individual on the one hand and the interests
of other individuals and the collective good on the other reminds
us of the harmony of the celestial bodies. The fact that each body
gravitates both toward itself (with the different particles of which it
is composed gravitating toward the body’s center of gravity, which
ensures its permanence) but also toward other bodies is what
generates a non-chaotic universe. In the metaphor of the invisi-
ble hand, egotistical interest, or individual utility, plays the role of
self-gravitation. At the same time, the pursuit of self-interest gen-

erates undesired effects for other individuals, just as by gravitating
upon itself, each celestial body contributes to the maintenance of
other bodies in space.
Why Newton rather than Descartes?

A number of elements are involved in answering this ques-
tion.48 First, it is useful to recall that Newton’s influence on the
Scottish economist stems from the context of national interest.
When Smith was writing and from his earliest texts, Great Britain
was predominantly Newtonian.49 Voltaire50 relates precisely – and
often humorously – the radical oppositions between English and
French physics. In this sense, Smith is simply adopting a paradigm
that seemed to him more fruitful than older precedents. It would
have been somewhat anachronistic and counterproductive for him
therefore to ignore Newton, all the more so given that one of his
intellectual authorities, David Hume51 promoted the work of the
English physicist from his earliest writings.
Second, it should not be forgotten that Smith declared that he felt

great admiration for Descartes. Yet, this is not enough to allow
us to conclude that his political economy owes much to French
48 - We willingly leave aside here the opposition between Descartes on the one hand and
Newton and Smith on the other concerning metaphysical questions, particularly the
role of God in the creation of the world and upon its operation.
49 - Bernard Cohen, “The Preliminary Manuscripts for Isaac Newton’s 1687 Principia:
1684-1685 by Isaac Newton.” Isis 83(1), 1992: 135-6.
50 - Voltaire, La Métaphysique de Newton (Amsterdam: Jacques Desbordes, 1740).
51 - David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental
Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects (London, 1739).
XVIII
philosophy. Yet, this position is defended by Philip Mirowski in re-

lation to the question of value. As Mirowski writes,
Although Adam Smith is often cited as the father of modern eco-

nomic science, it has not really been noticed that he was the first
whom we might suspect of having introduced by the back door, as
it were, Cartesian economy into the territory of Newton…This is
not the last time that we will see a leading economic theorist of the
age fall for an outmoded or discredited physical theory.52
Mirowski’s thesis can be stated in a few words: given that Smith

defends a substantialist conception of value, he cannot be con-
sidered Newtonian since for Newton, it is the notion of attraction

that prevails. A first objection to this thesis comes from recalling
all the references to the laws and conceptions of Newton we de-
tailed above. Yet, this answer alone is insufficient. We concede
that Smith’s value is at least in part a substance-value that refers
to the idea that value is assimilable to a kind of matter. However,

we should recall that for Newton, the definition of a quantity of
matter, insofar as it is a product of a volume and a density, fits
nicely with the measure of the value of a thing that is the prod-
uct of a quantity of work cross-referenced with the type of work.
This is not the case in Descartes, where we find a reduction of
matter to its extent. In Smith therefore, we find a definite value
in accord with the characteristics of matter in Newton and a
market price determined both by the force of attraction of the
value (a centripetal force) and the external forces of attraction
corresponding to supply and demand. Thus, even if we seek to
find in Smith’s political economy ideas behind Newtonian refer-
ences that might relate back to Cartesianism, we finds elements
that may be reminiscent of Descartes but that are above all com-
patible with the physics of the English scientist. In the tradition
of William Petty, Richard Cantillon, and François Quesnay, Smith
retains a theory of value that is rather substantialist, and he does
not try to elaborate a theory of value and price resulting from
action at a distance alone. Yet, we must also specify that while
this is particularly true of the theory of work-value, which Smith
restricts to “primitive” societies, it is less evident for the theory
of value that applies to “civilized” societies. Smith himself seems
troubled on this issue, since having told us what value is in this
52 - Philip Mirowski, Plus de chaleur que de lumière (Paris: Économica, 2001), 189-91.
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 XIX

type of society, namely the power to buy the work of others, he

seems content in the remainder of The Wealth of Nations to es-
tablish a link between value and labor that rather make us think
of his first definition of value.
Third, Newtonian physics seems better adapted to Smith’s project

than does that of Descartes. Indeed, Descartes makes the explana-
tion of natural phenomena dependent upon mechanical causes.
In a general way, natural phenomena are reducible to a standard
kind of event, namely the impact between particles of matter.
These perfectly rigid particles enter into collision with each other
and thereby produce various phenomena. The movement of one

body depends upon the movement and size of the other bodies
it encounters. Thus, in Cartesian physics, every event is due to
an external cause. If there is no contact, there is no event. The
consequence is very important: mechanical causality (by means
of contact) is the fundamental element that allows us to under-

stand the coherence of the physical world. Yet, the near-universal
application of this principle arouses doubts and then misgivings
and leads lead to the emergence of more vitalist and organicist
visions that either oppose a looser kind of mechanism or even
oppose it. Cause understood in terms a force is substituted for
mechanical cause. For Smith, causality as a force represents a less
crude instrument than mechanical causality in explaining the so-
cial world. Men are no longer caught up in a machinery of gears
and direct impacts but in a field of forces. We again find this sche-
ma in Smith’s political and moral philosophy as well as in his
economics. Thus the Newtonian vision seems to be best suited to
underwriting a liberal economic and political project. For Smith,
the law of attraction applied to the social world eliminates the
need for state intervention in the economy and the need for a
social contract to constitute society. Newton’s physics allows us
to give a naturalistic account of the economic order according
to softer modalities than the physics of Descartes, which will be
called for by French economists.
XX
Conclusion
We can draw a number of lessons from this comparative analy-
sis of the works of Smith and Newton. A reading of The History
of Astronomy allows us to determine that Smith knew Newton’s
physics well and beyond this that he knew all the major theo-
retical systems that had previously held currency, including that
of Descartes, for whom Smith expresses great admiration. Next,
we can observe that The History of Astronomy is not only an in-
teresting historical fresco but also the opportunity for Smith to
introduce the key elements of his theory of knowledge. In par-
ticular, he lays out in this text what is for him a theory, and he

guards against possible confusion between theory and reality. A
theory is nothing other than an imaginary machine supposed to
provide a representation of reality. However, theory must not be
solely the fruit of speculation: it must be compatible with the real
and nourished by the real. The status accorded to theory reveals
Smith’s total adherence to Lockean and Newtonian epistemology.

We find Smith cautioning against the spirit of systematization and
the hasty use of analogies. Yet, we can say that despite all of these
caveats, Smith’s analysis of the social world has a kinship with
Newton’s analysis of the physical world. These connections are
perceptible in the explanations Smith gives for certain economic
phenomena (on the subject of value and price). However, as we
analyze in greater depth elsewhere, what seems to us to be pri-
mary in the comparative analysis of the natural and social philos-
ophies of Newton and Smith is located at the level of general
architecture, that of the very conception of the world. The Scottish
philosopher and economist operates within the same paradigm
as the English physicist. In fact, the kinship between Smith and
Newton is perhaps greater than that between Locke and Newton.
Without directly citing Newton once in his work, Smith constructs
a representation of the social world that breathes the same air
that nourishes Newton’s physics. Juxtaposing the works of Smith
and Newton highlights their sharing of the same ontology and
epistemology, which can be summarized globally in terms of a
harmonious and self-regulating vision of the world and a rejec-
tion of systematics. We saw that Smith’s concept of sympathy can
be aligned with that of Newton’s attraction, as much in terms of
content – since both concepts refer to the notion of action at a
Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 XXI

distance – as on the epistemological plane – both serving as the

sole principle in a representation of the world. We understand
better in this way, finally, why the physics of Descartes cannot
serve as the background canvas for the works of Smith: there is a
sort of baseline incompatibility. Beyond his systematics, his com-
plex depiction of the world as a vortex in which movement is
fundamentally explained by the collisions of bodies could not be
reconciled with Smith’s liberal aims.

XXII

Political Economy in The Mirror of Physics Adam Smith and Isaac Newton

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POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE MIRROR OF PHYSICS: ADAM SMITH

AND ISAAC NEWTON

Armand Colin | « Revue d’histoire des sciences »

2011/1 Volume 64 | pages 5 - 26

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How to cite this article :

Electronic distribution by Cairn on behalf of Armand Colin.

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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showed an interest in the major representations of the universe from

Key Words: attraction; gravity; invisible hand; sympathy; morality.

Résumé : Si Adam Smith est généralement présenté comme le père

* Université Blaise-Pascal, 34 Avenue Carnot, BP 185, 63006 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex.

Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 I

de la valeur en économiepolitique) mais également pour expliquer sa

Mots-clés : attraction ; gravitation ; main invisible ; sympathie ; philo-

Europe in the eighteenth century benefited from a kind of intel-

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to Moral Philosophy in 1747) as well as the natural philosophy

Thomson8) have not hesitated to draw parallels between Newton’s

This paper, which consists of three parts, aims to demonstrate the

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close connections between the material world (the world of bod-

Smith’s Subtle Understanding of the History

Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 III

in two respects. First, it allows him to trace the history of celestial

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Four systems are highlighted in Smith’s History of Astronomy,

spin of the planet, or a rock to deviate from a vertical descent when

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The Influence of Newton’s Work on Smith’s Moral,

Before presenting the relations between the works of Smith and

Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 V

However, it would be erroneous to say that Smith was simply trans-

Although it is never stated, the reference to Newtonian physics

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it, considering it as its own proper object. From this perspective,

15 - Smith, History of Astronomy, 47.

The Laws of Physics as They Illustrate the Treatment of Some

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The Law of Inertia and the Question of Value

I but with two rubrics entitled “Definitions” and “Axioms, or Laws

“The Vis Insita, or Innate Force of Matter, is a power of resisting,

17 - Jean Mathiot, Adam Smith: Philosophie et économie (Paris: Presses Universitaires de

Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 VII

to introduce between resistant force (when a body opposes that

This force is always proportional to the mass of the body whose

The internal force of matter, or the force of inertia, is a force of

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In Chapter V of The Wealth of Nations, Smith poses the question

of the nature of value in a society where the division of labor is

The value of any commodity, therefore, to the person who pos-

This is what is known as the labor theory of value. In this way,

“… it is the power of purchasing; a certain command over all the

defined as the power to command the work of another and there-

The connection with Newton’s law of inertia becomes more

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accomplished by means of money. Consequently, the problem

Labor is like Newton’s vis insita because it allows us to define the

27 - Smith, Wealth of Nations, I.V.7.

Revue d’histoire des sciences I Volume 64-1 I January-June 2011 IX

The Law of Force and the Modification of Natural Price

The second law of motion declares that, “Alteration of motion is

15 - Smith, History of Astronomy, 47.

17 - Jean Mathiot, Adam Smith: Philosophie et économie (Paris: Presses Universitaires de

27 - Smith, Wealth of Nations, I.V.7.

35 - Smith, Wealth of Nations, I.VII.15.

36 - Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees: First Part (1714).

41 - Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.III.6.