ARAL.

PAN Reflection Paper 9-Zirconium

Jeia Chryztel A. Pablico

In the article Adam Smith made he talked about scarcity. But what is scarcity? Scarcity,
according to him, has been produced by mankind and was simply not present in antediluvian
America. The foundational ideas of modern economics – supply and demand – turn tail in the
face of a world wherein all necessities can be effortlessly plucked from the nearest tree.
For him, there is virtually no “natural” scarcity because it is always generated by people due to
their greed and desires for things they don't even need. Scarcity is simply caused by us humans.
According to Smith, then, societies and individuals both rationally seek out ease and efficiency
correspondent to the needs they envision for themselves.
Discussions regarding scarcity that’s circulating through the community and why and how it is
happening can be found on practically every page of the article. Discussions that society
contributes to or creates scarcity in order to achieve/accomplish specific goals. There is a little
doubt that the speaker believes that society contributes to the development of scarcity because
there is little "natural" scarcity, and theories or terms mentioned in the article include "The
Theory of Moral Sentiments," which states that our fundamental nature as social beings shapes
our moral beliefs, and "Invisible Hand," which states that self-interested people operate in a
rational manner. The needs and tendencies of “Natural Man” are corrupted by the pernicious
influence of “Artificial Society.”
Us people create scarcity as a result of our constant rivalry for the goods available in our
society. Because of our thirst for material wealth, we as people are to blame for this alleged
"scarcity." We constantly pursue our desires for pointless items while ignoring the things we
genuinely require to exist.
In economistic terms, because individuals are taught by society to devalue time, they are
constantly underselling it to society.

Our generation right now are the ones significantly impacted by scarcity due to the
absence of specific things they desire. Our wants that are merely used to satisfy us but are not
really that important. In order to manage what we buy or receive in our community and minimize
the absence of specific things brought on by artificial, it is important that for each of us to
understand what our wants and needs are. Because we have unlimited demands and wants for
specific things in our community, the only issue is our community, we people need to exercise
self-control when it comes to the products in our community.
While hoping to embellish ourselves with luxurious distinction, people actually deny their own
bodies ready pleasure while increasing the embellishment and luxury of the social body. They
individually sacrifice themselves under an artificial scarcity in order to, via an “invisible hand,”
produce an artificial abundance for the benefit of society at large. In short, the veil that nature
has placed over the world to deceive humankind has the merit of advancing (ibid: 185).

Smith believed that people could not make decisions that were good for society without
the aid of an artificially-imposed scarcity, which aided them in making decisions that were as
misguided for the individual as they were essential for society. Crucially, however, there is one
item that is naturally scarce for the individual in Smith’s vision: Time. Therefore, when scarcity
occurs in our society, each of us must learn to adjust to it since it will be a permanent condition
of our society. We as individuals should respect our time; this is something else that Smith urged
us to do in the article.

As we conclude, Locke built his social theory upon the natural abundance of space, Smith
built his upon the natural scarcity of time. We always think of these two when making decisions
on issues where scarcity concerns our community.
We are therefore left with the intriguing possibility that Smith’s and Locke’s theories both imply
that society and individuals (in their “natural” or splenetic state) price time and space on entirely
separate supply and demand curves.
As a result, whenever we individuals make decisions for the benefit of our society, we should
always consider our actions and opinions. Because there will always be a shortage, the only thing
we could is put an end to our lust for unnecessary goods. Individuals ought to acquire self-
control skills. Because it could help to reduce or maintain scarcity in our community, we
individuals should always place a high value on everything we say or do, both material and
intangible, and we should be content with what we have and only need what we absolutely need.
We should always prioritize our needs rather than our wants.