Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Geographical factors: Geographical factors refer to natural elements shaping a region's characteristics, including terrain, climate, soil, and water sources. These factors influence human activities, settlement patterns, agriculture, and economic development. See also Economic development, Developing countries. _____________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 Geographical Factors - Dictionary of Arguments
Otteson I 29 Geographical factors/Adam Smith/Otteson: Take natural resources: there were some places rich in natural resources, like China, but that overall were not wealthy; and there were places relatively poor in natural resources, like Holland and Britain, but wealthy. Factors like infrastructure, education, and technology Smith argued were in fact functions of wealth, not originators of it. In other words, places that were already generating wealth could afford better infrastructure, could afford more formal education, and could capitalize on technological advances; Places that were not already wealthy struggled to develop or take advantage of these things. >Infrastructure, >Education, >Technology. Racism: And to Smith's great credit, he also did not think that racial distinctions played any role. That was an explanation that would have been ready to hand in the eighteenth century (and in the nineteenth century as well - Darwin, for example, took "natural" distinctions among human races seriously in his 1871 Descent of Man)(1). >Racism, >Cultural values, >Culture, >Charles Darwin. But Smith believed that all human beings were relatively equal in their motivations and abilities, and thus policies that worked in one country or in one culture would, or should, work in others as well. >Wealth/Adam Smith, >Division of Labour/Adam Smith. 1. Darwin, Charles (1981) [1871]. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Princeton University Press._____________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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> Counter arguments against Smith
> Counter arguments in relation to Geographical Factors
