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CAPITALISM IS THE MOST JUST ECONOMIC SYSTEM
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CAPITALISM IS THE MOST JUST ECONOMIC SYSTEM1. CAPITALISM, WHILE IMPERFECT, IS STILL THE BEST SYSTEM Adam Smith, in Michael L. Fry (Ed.). ADAM SMITH’S LEGACY, 1992, p. 35. This system, with all its imperfections is, perhaps, the nearest approximation to the truth that has yet been published upon the subject of political economy, and is upon that account well worth the consideration of every man who wishes to examine with attention the principles of that very important science.
Adam Smith, in Patricia H. Werhane. ADAM SMITH’S LEGACY FOR MODERN CAPITALISM, 1991, p. 49. Self-preservation, and the propagation of the species, are the great ends which Nature seems to have proposed in the formation of all animals...Nature has directed us to the greater part of these by original and immediate instincts...without any consideration of their tendency to those beneficent ends which the great Director of nature intended to produce by them. (ellipse in original)
Adam Smith, in Patricia H. Werhane. ADAM SMITH’S LEGACY FOR MODERN CAPITALISM, 1991, p. 54. The first and chief design of all civil governments, is...to preserve justice amongst the members of the state and prevent all encroachments on the individuals in it, from others of the same society.--(That is, to maintain each individual in his perfect rights). (ellipse in original)
Adam Smith, in Patricia H. Werhane, Professor of Philosophy, Chicago. ADAM SMITH’S LEGACY FOR MODERN CAPITALISM, 1991, p. 88. According to the Theory of Moral Sentiments, every man is certainly, in every respect, fitter and abler to take care of himself than of any other person.” In The Wealth of Nations, this translates into the natural liberty to take care of one’s own economic interests without external restraints.
Adam Smith, in Patricia H. Werhane. ADAM SMITH’S LEGACY FOR MODERN CAPITALISM, 1991, p. 90. Man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be far more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them.
The rich only select from the heap what is most precious and agreeable. They consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, though they mean only their own convenience, though the sole end which they propose from the labours of all the thousands whom they employ, be the gratification of their own vain and insatiable desires, they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessities of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of society, and afford means to multiplication of the species. Answering SmithIntroduction Adam Smith is one of the most influential philosophers of the last 300 years. This much is beyond dispute. Adam Smith wrote an enormous volume called The Wealth Of Nations, which every high school history and economics teacher claims to have read. Almost none of them have. This, too, is beyond dispute. And that's about where the "beyond dispute" ends. The left and the right have waged a textual war over the claim to Smith's legacy in print during the last ten years, and the true allegiances of the man who is often (erroneously) called "the father of capitalism" have been thrown into question more than ever before. Who is right? Who is wrong? Well, in debate, that's not really the question. The question is, can you convince your judge that YOU, rather than your opponent, has the right idea about Adam Smith's ideas? When turning your attention to answering his philosophies, consider that - as is most philosophers - you'll do yourself a big favor by reading the original works, even if it an intimidating 900-page book that your lying teacher hasn't even read. But you'll be glad you did. After all, I'VE read it. Really. Trust me. Who Was Adam Smith, Anyway?Adam Smith was a Scottish economist and moral philosopher who is very much in the tradition of "classical liberalism," a term which his also been used to describe such intellectual luminaries as John Stuart Mill and Wilhelm von Humboldt. What does that mean, classical liberal? We'll talk about that in some detail below. But one thing I can tell you is that it bears little resemblance to what we know today as "liberalism," a philosophy that necessitates some reliance on governmental intervention into the economy and human life. That's not to say Smith was opposed in toto to those things, though, because he certainly wasn't. Smith took a post as professor of logic at Glasgow University in 1751 and became the chair of moral philosophy in 1752. He covered a lot of ground in the lectures he gave, including ethics, rhetoric, jurisprudence and political economy, or "police and revenue." He published his Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759, which was his most influential work until The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, the year of the American Revolution's onset. Anyway, Smith's moral thought is often given short shrift in order to focus on his economic ideas. That's understandable, given how much more famous he is as an economist - but there is the not inconsiderable fact that his moral thought influenced his economic thought, and vice versa. Beware of the person who tries to tell you that Adam Smith was the father of ANYTHING, especially “the free market,” “capitalism,” or “laissez-faire economics.” Smith was an important thinker in a tradition of thinkers stemming from 17th century rationalism and the 18th century thought it spawned. But, as with many other philosophers of influence, political types will try to use his words for their own benefit. Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! Download 5.81 Mb. Share with your friends:
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