A few things to remember about Adam Smith: he was a philosopher trying understand the relatively new concept of commerce, as the British Isles evolved beyond village labor (think plantation labor). His underlying assumption (from Moral Sentiments) for economic choices was that people sought to be liked. The first factories were just bein…
A few things to remember about Adam Smith: he was a philosopher trying understand the relatively new concept of commerce, as the British Isles evolved beyond village labor (think plantation labor). His underlying assumption (from Moral Sentiments) for economic choices was that people sought to be liked. The first factories were just being formed. He was 100 years from the birth of corporations--and he loathed monopoly, as in the British West India Co. I do not think he could have envisioned the soulless landscape capitalism has woven.
A few things to remember about Adam Smith: he was a philosopher trying understand the relatively new concept of commerce, as the British Isles evolved beyond village labor (think plantation labor). His underlying assumption (from Moral Sentiments) for economic choices was that people sought to be liked. The first factories were just being formed. He was 100 years from the birth of corporations--and he loathed monopoly, as in the British West India Co. I do not think he could have envisioned the soulless landscape capitalism has woven.