Ok, to be fair, Adam Smith knew what he was talking about. The man could decipher market behavior just by observing. None of these fancy studies or interviews scientists use now (oh look, the oldest rocks in the world...). For the most part, his ideas about the invisible hand and free trade are considered to be the foundation of modern economics. I agree with most of his statements on the excerpt from "The Wealth of Nations," except for one point he argues.
Smith believes that the reason for man's ability to work together is based on the human ability to reason and communicate through speech. He argues that the occasional cooperation between other animals is "not the effect of any contract, but of the accidental concurrence of their passions in the same object at that particular time." My question is, what is a contract based on if not the concurrence of passions? Contracts are created between humans to reach a common benefit. Like a pack will work together to kill an animal they all can feed on, so humans will merge two corporations to reap profit for all. All animals are born with the capability to cooperate for the greater good.
3 comments:
Yes, I agree with that all animals are born with the capability to cooperate for the greater good, too. But I think what he is trying to say with the word "contracts" here is the exchange of the products. If I want to get bread from someone, I have to give him or her the same amount of value as exchange. In this way, both of us can get the benefits. In animal’s world, it is not as safe as human's society to make contracts because they do not have the same ability to communicate with each other and cooperate. They are always facing the risk of being killed. I think this is what he means by “not the effect of any contract, but of the accidental concurrence of their passions in the same object at that particular time.”
I don't know about that. I feel like humans have so many more emotions then animals. Sometime jealousy, lack of trust, and plain old hate can ruin relationships between humans. I have a hard time thinking that animals working together would just be for survival.
I agree with pat, our society is much more complex because of the emotions humans have. However I think that all creatures share simular basic emtions, like survival and jealousy which are key to making it in the wild. Humans have socail stuctures in place so that these emtions are held back and civility is upheld.
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