Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| God: God is a supreme being or creator deity that is worshipped in various religions. God is often described as being omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnibenevolent (all-good). God is also often believed to be the creator and sustainer of the universe. See also Religion, Religious belief, Theology, Creation myth, Culture, Cultural tradition._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Adam Smith on God - Dictionary of Arguments
Otteson I 25 God/Adam Smith/Otteson: (…) Smith was apparently a Christian and hence seemed to believe both that God created us and that He intends for us to be happy.* Smith's argument is rather that God created us with the necessary psychological tools - in particular, the desire for mutual sympathy of sentiments - as well as with the necessary circumstances - in particular, scarcity of resources, which requires cooperation to survive and flourish - that would, or at least could, lead us to develop mutually beneficial communities of virtue and prosperity. All of this would proceed cooperatively and jointly, but without requiring divine interposition. But Smith also believed that empirical observation suggests that human beings are imperfect and often make mistakes. Free will/Adam Smith: Their free will enables them to make choices - some of which will turn out to benefit themselves and others, but others of which will turn out to harm themselves or others. The process he envisions, then, is similar to what Darwin would articulate in the succeeding century as that giving rise to species and ecosystems in the natural order.** >Spontaneous order, >Adam Smith Problem, >Rules/Adam Smith. * Modern scholars differ over the extent to which Smith's many references to God, to the Author of Nature, and so on are indicative of his actual religious beliefs. For discussion, see Ross (2010)(1) and, for a variety of perspectives, Oslington (2011)(2). ** For a recent discussion of the link between Smith and Darwin, see Ridley (2015)(3), especially Chapter 2. 1. Ross, Ian Simpson (2010). The Life of Adam Smith. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press. 2. Oslington, Paul. (2011). The Future Hope in adam Smith’s System. Studies in christian Ethics. Vol. 24, 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/0953946811405 3. Ridley, Matt. (2015). The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge. Harper Perennial._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
EconSmith I Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments London 2010 EconSmithV I Vernon L. Smith Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms Cambridge 2009 Otteson I James R. Otteson The Essential Adam Smith Vancouver: Fraser Institute. 2018 |
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