Adam Smithas System between Individualism and Socialization

Abstract

This paper tackles the Das Adam Smith problem, that is, the question of incongruence between Smith#x2019;s two major works: the Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations. It purports to show that the two works abide by the same methodology, which highlights the Natural Order manifest in the Grand Design, but that they reach eventually two fundamentally incompatible results emanating from different initial assumptions about the modus operandi of the individual: a social conscience versus unfettered self-interest. The implications are readily clear for the economic system derived as far as state intervention in the economy is concerned.