Adam Smith (1723-1790)

1. Adam Smith (1723-1790) • Scottish, Smith studied in Oxford. In 1752 he returned to Glasgow and became a Professor (moral philosophy, ethics, natural theology, jurisprudence, and political economy). • “Scottish Enlightenment” (Francis Hutcheson, James Hutton, David Hume, Adam Smith) • In 1764-6 Smith travelled to France, where he met the physiocrats • Major Works: • Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) • Lectures on Jurisprudence (1762-4) • The Wealth of Nations (1776)

2. Smith attacks… • Mercantilism • Absolutism With… the Market (the “invisible hand”)

3. “Moral Sentiments” • Goal: to identify the elements sustaining ethical judgement in human psychology, which Smith understands in terms of natural propensities or tendencies, such as • Sympathy: tendency to experience certain feelings before certain situations (and other people’s experiencing them) • A desire for others to react towards us in harmony with how we feel about ourselves; • A desire to be gain the others’ approval (≠ Hobbes’ assumption on human intrinsic selfishness) • Basic feelings such as these allow Smith to build a theory of subjectivity and justice (it is our feelings, and not any abstract principle, what orientates our perception of right and wrong while making judgments)

4. Lectures on Jurisprudence Still influenced by the success of Mercantilism Smith sees crime as a product of the socio-economic conditions prevalent in society and of the specific conditions of the poor Smith regards the main task of government as “promoting the opulence of the state” defined as police: (Political economy was considered the main branch of the “science of police” by its modern founders) • “whatever regulations are made with respect to the trade, commerce, agriculture, manufactures of the country are considered as belonging to the police'. • Police has three aspects: • Cleanliness, • Security (against accidents and crime), and • The cost of provisions and the maintenance of the market. Smith considers both cleanliness and security against accidents not worthy of defining a branch of jurisprudence, yet crime and the maintenance of the market are considered part of the police. Still, it is the proper running of the market--by guaranteeing the cheapness and supply of commodities—what stands out as the most important area of police

5. Political Economy • Sir James Stuart, Principles of Political Economy, 1767

6. The Wealth of Nations • (Possibly as a consequence of his stay in France) in the Wealth of Nations Smith's use of the concept of police (& the government) completely changes • Government must be minimal and “police” appears as negative • the word 'police' is used negatively to denote systems of state regulation which The Wealth of Nations criticizes (i.e. systems in which the state favours the industry of either town or country). Police becomes a part of the wrong type of government

7. Labor (Smith develops Locke’s insights further) • Labor is the origin of value • Value • “the utility of some particular object” (value in use) • “the power of purchasing other goods” (value in exchange • The market smoothly regulates the movement of commodities and workers and the expansion of wealth • Wealth expands through trade

8. Automatic (Social) Mechanisms • The Market (“the invisible hand” naturally regulates society) • Machines • Division of Labor & Specialization

9. (minimal) Government • “The first duty of the sovereign is that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies” • The second duty of the sovereign is that of protecting… every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member… or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice” • The third and last duty of the sovereign or commonwealth is that of erecting and maintaining those public institutions and public works…[that] cannot be expected that any individual or small number of individuals should erect or maintain.”

10. Where is politics in this scheme?And the good life?

11. Wealth and development provide security • Despite Paris having more police than London, it has more crimes because of the development of commerce in the two nations: in Paris • 'the spirit of the feudall government is not so entirely abolished as it is here'. • More servants, more crime; more free workers, less crime • Crime is linked to feudalism. • “the establishment of commerce and manufactures… [is] the best police for preventing crimes”

12. "There is only one condition in which we can imagine managers not needing subordinates, and masters not needing slaves. This would be if every machine could work by itself, at the word of command or by intelligent anticipation."Aristotle’s Politics