Adam Smith

Adam Smith (1723-1717 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and economist. Research the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was the first serious attempt to study the historical development of industry and commerce in Europe. He helped create the modern academic discipline of economics and provided one of the causes of the most famous intellectuals of capitalism.Smith was the son of the Comptroller of Customs at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. The exact date of his birth is unknown but he was baptized in Kirkcaldy June 5, 1723, his father died six months earlier.At the age of fifteen years, Smith went to the University of Glasgow, studied moral philosophy under "unforgettable" (as he called Smith) Francis Hutcheson. In 1740, he entered Balliol College, Oxford, but as William Robert Scott has said: "Oxford time has little or no aid would be his life's work," and resigned Exhibition 1746. In 1748 he began to give public lectures in Edinburgh under the patronage of Lord Kames. Certain of these treatises on rhetoric and literature, but later dedicated to the "progress of wealth," and then in the mid-20th or the end, for the first time exposed the economic philosophy of "obvious and simple system of natural liberty", then announce to the world in its inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. 1750, he met David Hume, who was one of the closest to his many friends.In 1751, Smith was appointed professor of logic at Glasgow University, transferring in 1752 to the chair of moral philosophy. His lectures covered the fields of ethics, rhetoric, jurisprudence, political economy, and the "police and revenue." In 1759, he published his Theory of Moral Sentiments, including some of his lectures Glasgow. This work, which concerns Smith's reputation at the time, about how human communication depends on sympathy between speaker and listener. Its fluidity, persuasive, if rather rhetorical argument is much more evident. He bases his explanation, the third Lord Shaftesbury and Hutcheson had done, in a "moral" or (Hume) depends critically on the utility and sympathy. There has been considerable debate on how to contradiction or conflict between Smith's emphasis on the moral sentiments of sympathy, that the fundamental reason of man, and, on the other hand, the key role of interest for the wealth of nations. Interest plays an important role in the new edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS), which appeared in 1783. TMS position seems even more important in the minds wide synchronization and behavior under the beneficent Providence, and in the second, despite the general theme of the "invisible hand" to promote the harmony of interests, Smith Date often seen in cases of conflict and selfishness reasons Strait of man. However, in "Theory of Moral Sentiments" Smith introduced the concept of a man who is not very different from that of animals below:"In this way, self-preservation and procreation are major objectives, which nature seems to have proposed in the formation of all animals. Humanity is the desire of these objectives, and in spite of the aversion to love life, and the fear of dissolution, and the desire for continuity and permanence of species, and disgust at the idea extinction. Yet, in spite of so many strong desire of these objectives has been given a slow and uncertain determinations of our mind, to find ways to meet them. nature has led to most of them original and immediate instincts. hunger, thirst, the passion which unites the two sexes, love, pleasure and fear of pain force us to use these tools themselves, and regardless of their tendency to those beneficent ends which nature intended their great director. 'Smith began to give more attention to jurisprudence and economics in his lectures and less to his theory of morality. Printing can also be made in the development of his ideas on economic policy of his lecture notes taken by a student in 1763, which was then edited by E. Cannon (Lectures on justice, police, revenue and arms, 1896), and what Scott, its discoverer and publisher, describes as "the first draft of the Wealth of Nations", which dates from around 1763.At the end of 1763, Smith received a message lucrative as tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch and resigned his professorship. From 1764 to 1766 traveled with his pupil, mostly in France, where he learned the intellectual leaders such as Anne Turgot, Jean D'Alembert, André Morellet, Helvetius and, in particular, François Quesnay, the head of the school is the work of physiocrat any respect. Upon returning home, Kirkcaldy has spent most of the next ten years of his magnum opus, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. It was very well received and popular, and Smith became famous. In 1778, he was appointed Commissioner of Customs location in Scotland and went to live with his mother in Edinburgh. This is where he died July 17, 1790, after a long illness. Apparently, she spent most of their income for many secret acts of charity. He was not married and had other children.Shortly before his death, Smith had nearly all his manuscripts destroyed. In recent years, it seemed, had provided two important treaties: the first on the theory and history of law and that of science and art. Essays on philosophy published posthumously (1795) is likely to contain elements that would last contract.The Wealth of Nations was influential because he has done so much to create the economy and the development of autonomous systematic discipline. In the Western world, is probably the most influential book ever published on the subject. When the book has become a classic manifesto against mercantilism (the theory that large reserves of gold are essential for economic success), published in 1776, had a strong sense of free trade in the United Kingdom and United States. This new feeling stems from economic hardship and poverty caused by the war. However, at the time of publication, not all were convinced of the benefits of free trade once: The British public and Parliament still clung to mercantilism for many years to come.The Wealth of Nations also rejects the emphasis on school grounds Physiocrats value, but Smith believed equivalent of labor, and the division of labor will be a massive increase in production. Nations has been so successful, in fact, that led to the abandonment of earlier economic school, and later economists as Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo, focused on refining Smith's theory of what now known as classical economics. Reflection (Modern economics has evolved from this.) Malthus expanded Smith overpopulation, while Ricardo (and Marx) believes in the "iron law of wages" -. Crowding prevents wages and the subsistence Smith proposed salary increases, production increased taxes are considered more accurate today.One of the main points of the Wealth of Nations is that the free market, even if it seems chaotic and unrestrained, is actually designed to get the number and variety of goods in the so-called "invisible hand." If there is a shortage of products, such as price increases, creating incentives for their production, and finally cure the deficit. Increased competition between producers and the highest bid would lower the price of the product in respect of the cost of production, the "natural price".Smith believed that while human motives are often selfish and greedy, free market competition will tend to benefit society as a whole though. However, he was wary of businessmen and opposes the creation of monopolies.Smith vigorously attacked the antiquated government restrictions which he thought curb industrial expansion. In fact, he attacked most forms of government intervention in the economic process, including tariffs, arguing that this creates inefficiency and high costs in the long term. This theory, now known as "non-interference", influenced by the government in recent years, especially in the 19th century.The wealth of nations, and to a lesser extent, Theory of Moral Sentiments, was the starting point of any defense or critique of capitalism, the most influential in the works of Marx and Human economists. Why not interfere so often associated with unbridled selfishness, not the last step, to focus on the sentimental moral philosophy Smith, who emphasizes empathy with the children alone.There has been some controversy over the degree of originality Smith Wealth of Nations, some argue that there is little work in addition to the already established ideas of thinkers such as David Hume and the Baron de Montesquieu. In fact, most theories of Smith said simply describe the historical trends of mercantilism to free trade, which has accumulated for decades, and has already had a significant impact on government policy. However, the organization of their ideas as well, and remains one of the most important books and influential in the industry today