ABSTRACT
A summary of the key elements of the corpus is presented, Smith’s goals are discussed and the six elements of the corpus outlined.
Historical treatment of natural philosophy and metaphysics
Natural theology
Smith presents a natural theology of society. The final cause of God’s creative action is a desire to produce a society of virtuous and happy persons. The efficient causality is Nature, which is really human nature.
Ethics
Smith’s ethical system is a finely tuned synthesis of diverse elements in the moral philosophy of his day. Nature as the efficient causality of providence operates to produce harmony in the natural sentiments via sympathy. We moderate each other’s excessive self-love to a more acceptable pitch through the important role of being spectators of each other’s conduct, ultimately by reference to the ideal spectator which is our conscience.
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence for Smith is a cognate term for the theory of government and public policy.
Stages of social development
The market mechanisms
In WN Smith outlines a conceptual framework for the way that markets work which has been extremely successful. In this chapter the iconic metaphor of the ‘invisible hand’ is introduced.
