The Wealth of Nations Essay examples -- Economics Economy Politics Ess

The Wealth of NationsAdam smiths famous attempt to inform the nature and causes of the wealth of nations rests on several crucial assumptions about military man nature which in turn rely on false universalism and perplexing dichotomies.To begin with, Smith makes roughly three claims about charitable nature. Primarily, Smith assumes that self-interest is inherent in all human race beings. As hostile to animals which rely on benevolence, in opposition to natural pity (Rousseau p. 53), the human will be more likely to prevail if he canful interest others self-love in his favour, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them (Smith, p. 18). Smith later relies on this self-love to ground his arguments on the steady base of human nature. More subtly, the faculties of reason and speech fulfill a crucial role in Smiths preaching of human behavior. Although he never openly lists these faculties as essential to human nature, his argument relies on this assumption. The step from having some goods and needing others to trading with those who eat the ask goods and want the overabundant ones cannot be warranted without a presumption of a coherent actor. Similarly, every development towards improved efficiency, if these are anything more guided than stochastic evolutionary steps, require such an actor to instigate it. In the sheath of the cursormaker, Smith must assume some force driving the arrow maker to save time and maximize profits. Of course, the concepts of barter, trade, and the rest require speech, or some kind of communication. Finally, Smith instills a certain propensity in human nature the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. (Smith p. 17). This, he sugg... ...to the commonness of rationality. Far from all cultures were capitalistic, nor is it possible to prove any would have become capitalistic in the future. Thus Smiths explanation of human nature is applicable pri marily to Western European coastal trading humans, rather than to the supposed universal and original human specimen.whole kit and boodle CITEDSmith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. Ed. Cannan, Edwin. Chicago, IL U of Chicago Press, 1976.Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Discourse on the melody of Inequality. The Basic Political Writings. Trans. Cress, Donald A. Indianapolis, IN Hackett, 1987.Visvanathan, Shiv. The Laboratory State. Science, Violence, and Hegemony A Requiem for Modernity. Oxford University Press, 1988. October 11, 2001.