Adam Smith on Government - Dictionary of Arguments

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Government: Government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. It is responsible for making and enforcing laws, providing public services, and maintaining order. See also Governance, State, Community, Society. _____________ 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.

> Smith, Adam	> Government	Adam Smith on Government - Dictionary of Arguments Otteson I 48 Government/Adam Smith/Otteson: Smith writes in the first chapter of WN⁽¹⁾: "It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the division of labor, which occasions, in a well- governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the Iowest ranks of the people" (WN⁽¹⁾: 22). Well-governed: (…) what Smith means here by "well-governed" is articulated in his discussion of "justice" in TMS⁽²⁾ - which, as we just mentioned, comprises the protections of person, property, and promise (TMS⁽²⁾ 84). We can conclude from these two passages that Smith believes that the primary duty of government is the protection of (his conception of) justice. Moreover, (…) this conception of justice is a "negative" one, requiring only that we refrain from injuring others. Justice: A government reflecting this conception of justice would be summoned into action only upon the infringement of someone's person, property, or promise. We might consider Smith's conception of justice, then, a "negative, defensive only“ [NDO] conception of justice, or "NDO" conception, one whose core purpose is provide us defensive protection against infringements. Individualism: Finally, (…) all of the various positive duties of beneficence that we have are not, according to Smith, duties of government, but, rather, duties of us as individuals (and as voluntary and private groups). >Community/Adam Smith, >Political economy/Adam Smith, >Governance/Adam Smith, >Natural Law/Adam Smith. Liberalism: Smith actually spends far more time in WN⁽¹⁾ describing the ways that government makes mistakes, overreaches, and engages in counterproductive activities, sometimes through corruption and sometimes through incompetence, sometimes with malice and sometimes unintentionally. Anarchism/libertarianism: But Smith is not an anarchist; he is not even a principled modern-day libertarian. Instead, he articulates a positive and robust role for government, though he limits its powers and authorities to a small range of specific duties. Here is one key passage [from WN⁽¹⁾]: „All systems either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty, in the attempting to perform which he must always be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be suficient; the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments most suitable to the interest of the society. According to the system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to; three duties ofgreat importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common understandings: first, the duty of protecting the societyfrom the violence and invasion of other independent societies; secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice; and, thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions, which it can never befor the interest ofany individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit could never repay the expence to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to agreat society.“ (WN⁽¹⁾: 687-8) Otteson I 52 Government/Adam Smith: the Smithian government is quite small by contemporary standards. 1. Smith, Adam. (1776) The Wealth of Nations. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell. 2. Smith, Adam (1982) [1759]. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie, eds. Liberty Fund. _____________ 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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