ABSTRACT
The aim of our contribution is to show that in his work, Adam Smith presents a specific and non-utilitarian human determination: the love of system. To identify the origins of this determination, this chapter studies the theory of knowledge proposed by Smith in his Essays on Philosophical Subjects. It shows that human knowledge stems from the advent of a phenomenon that arouses surprise or wonder. The human mind seeks indeed to link unknown phenomena to pre-existing classifications or to causal chains of analyses. It seeks to build systems. In this perspective, Smith considers every philosopher or every scientist as a system designer, as a lover of system, who produces theoretical systems similar to imaginary machines intended to link elements that had first appeared to be disjointed. The love of system is therefore a love of order and of coherent relations. It characterizes the scientific enterprise but more generally, the spirit and the dynamic of modernity. The established relations can indeed be abstract or concrete. They thus contribute to make systemic the representations as well as the productions of modernity. But, the love of system cannot be reduced to utilitarian motivations. It is also distinct from the “spirit of system” that characterizes the “man of system.” Smith’s criticism of these two last notions allows to better understand his epistemological and political stances. It also opens new perspectives allowing to perceive some of the threats to modernity.
