Adam Smith

By Daniel

Life begin: 5 June 1723 (at his baptism)

Life end: 17 July 1790 (aged 67)
Scotland
Philosopher and Economist

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

First published work

 sympathy, which he describes as arising when we imagine how we woul

d feel in the circumstances of others.
This is somewhat different from Hume's account, on which sympathy n
ormally consists in feeling what others actually feel in their circumstan
ces
and it opens up the possibility that our feelings on another person's beh
alf may often not match the feelings she herself has.
individuals witness the actions and reactions of others.
human beings are social, we care about others and their circumstances
bring us pleasure or pain. It is only through our senses, through "seein
g," that we acquire knowledge of their sentiments. Smith's first sentence
associates egoism with supposition or presumption, but scientific "princ
iples" of human activity are associated with evidence: Newtonianism an
d empiricism in action.

 Smith's theory, it is likely that he believed that God de

signed the universe and its rules, and then stepped ba
ck as it unfolded. Smith's God is not an interventionis
t God and, despite some readers suggesting the contr
ary, the invisible hand is not an indication of God's in
volvement in creation. It is, instead, just the unfoldin
g of sociological and economic principles. Second, bec
ause God is detached from the system, Smith argues t
hat human beings are God's regents on earth. It is up
to them to be the judges of their own behavior.

The Wealth of Nations

Released in 1776
Documented industrial development in Europe
Father of modern capitalism

 division of labor
the moment when economics transitions to the
"modern."

Key idea

free trade
self-interest in exchange
the limits on government intervention
Invisible-hand

 "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, th

e brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our di
nner, but from their regard to their own interes
t," Smith wrote.

Key idea
Division of labor serve
Assembly-line production methods driven by the
division of labor.

 It is the great multiplication of the productions

of all the different arts, in consequence of the div
ision of labor, which occasions, in a well-governe
d society, that universal opulence which extends
itself to the lowest ranks of the people,

 http://www.iep.utm.edu/smith/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/smith-moral
-political/#SumSmiMor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-w
as-adam-smithsphilosphy-what-was-karl-marx
s-309518
http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers
_smith.html