Adam Smith the moral philosopher
Many people have dragged the idea of the free market, and even the good name of Adam Smith through the mud recently. It is trendy to say that capitalism does not work fully.
The life of Adam Smith
In a nutshell, Adam Smith’s lived a life of virtue and intellectual pursuit. Perhaps a Deist and at least a man of ethics and a man of the enlightenment, Smith tried to explain why some people are rich and others are poor. He wanted to explain the reason for poverty, and suffering caused by material lack.
His books contained nothing about greed or materialism. Adam Smith’s works do not praise the virtue of selfish like Ann Rand’s books. Smith is very different than Rand but the two get lumped together.
Rather the works of Smith is about the role of work is in our society. Work is about adding value to others. Our work is our service to other people. Smith’s work was not about greed, but rather it was simply a discourse on the causes of wealth and poverty, and a prescription to alleviate suffering caused by lack, written between the lines.
Adam Smith’s recommendations
Adam Smith believed, when everyone acts on their own enlightened self interest, society as a whole benefits. Everyone gets more pie. When government has more control people will suffer more and get poor. People should work to contribute to others and they will reap rewards themselves as will society.
This means poverty can be alleviate for society in aggregate when people realizes that each person has the ability to contribute to society. He believed men are good in nature. Read more about this on Adam Smith and work
I live in Eastern Europe and I see what government does to people. My recommendation is if you are feeling sorry for others and want to help them, read the books of Adam Smith. If you feel bad about your personal economic situation in life, read Adam Smith. Contained in his books was nothing about greed or malice, only goodness towards humanity.
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2 responses to Adam Smith philosophy
Adam Smith - guileless as a dove
“Rather the works of Smith is (sic) about the role of work is in our society. Work is about adding value to others. Our work is our service to other people.”
Kind of like CEO’s with golden parachutes who make $15,000 per hour between their salaries and benefits packages.
Wealth is relative and personal to your life
I guess the question is, how does someone making ridiculous amounts of money (which in my opinion is not based on their real value), affecting your personal happiness? It is only jealously that makes people unhappy when they see a rich man. God gives us all we have. Remember the more that is given the more will be required from us when we meet the giver of all gifts. It is only a loan to us on this earth.
So I do not feel jealous of a rich man, as he will be accountable for more, to our Father when it comes to asking how he help society and humanity.
Further, if you are talking about America. We are all rich. The poor in America (I have heard poor in American even have cars and radios in their homes) are like the super elite in many countries. I live in Eastern Europe and I can not agree with Americans crying poverty. Come to Ukraine or Poland and see what I am talking about. Running water in Ukraine for example is not a given.
Adam Smith give the world a way out of poverty. A way for your personally and for the world as a whole. If people stopped being jealous of these greedy CEO guys and started to focus on how they personally can add value and create something in the economy, they themselves would be richer and so would society as a whole. This was the Philosophy of Adam Smith.
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