Adam Smith
1723–1790 · British Moral Philosophy · Household name
Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher who wrote a book on ethics before he wrote one on economics. The butcher does not feed you out of kindness. He feeds you because it pays him, and Smith thought a whole economy could run on that, through the division of labor and the invisible hand. We judge ourselves by imagining a fair spectator watching, he held, and markets need that restraint to work at all.
Signature
The position Smith is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Society
- mildly leans Collectivism
- Economy
- Market Capitalism
Positions on the 6 axes the sources answer
- Natural Processes
- leans Purposeful (75 on a 0–100 scale from Mechanistic to Purposeful)
- Society
- mildly leans Collectivism (35 on a 0–100 scale from Collectivism to Individualism)
- Truth
- leans Objective (75 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- Polity
- leans Liberalism (80 on a 0–100 scale from Illiberalism to Liberalism)
- Ethics
- leans Means (75 on a 0–100 scale from Ends to Means)
- Conviction
- leans Uncertain (25 on a 0–100 scale from Uncertain to Certain)
14 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Smith refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Deism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Government
- Representative Democracy
What is your ideal form of government? - Highest Good
- Harmony / Virtue
What is the highest good? - Knowledge
- Sense Experience
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Relational
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Time
- Linear Progressive
What is the fundamental shape of time? - Economy
- Market Capitalism
What is the ideal organization of economic life? - Authority
- Consent of the Governed / Natural Law
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Law
- Natural Law
What is the ultimate source of legitimate law? - Role of Emotion
- Social Signaling
What is the proper role of emotion? - Human Nature
- Innate Good
What is human nature? - Primary Bond
- Family
What is your primary bond and loyalty?