什麼是亞當斯密

Smith, Adam

蘇格蘭社會哲學家和政治經濟學家。海關官員之子，在格拉斯哥大學和牛津大學求學。在愛丁堡的一系列公開演講（1748年起）讓他與休姆建立一生的友誼，也讓亞當斯密在1751年獲得格拉斯哥大學聘任。在出版《道德感情理論》（1759）後，他成為未來之布克魯奇公爵的家庭教師（1763～1766），與他一起旅居法國，並在那裡親近其他重要的思想家。1776年在工作九年之後，亞當斯密出版《國富論》，為政治經濟方面最早的綜合體系。他在書中論述以個人私利為本的經濟體系較佳，好比由一隻「看不見的手」引領，以獲得最佳的好處，書中並把分工視為經濟成長的首要因素。此書為當時盛行之重商主義體系的反應，站在古典經濟學的開端。《國富論》立即為他贏得巨大聲望，最後成為出版史上對經濟影響最深遠的作品。雖然常被視為資本主義的聖經，本書卻嚴厲批判了毫無節制之自由企業與壟斷的缺點。1777年亞當斯密奉派為蘇格蘭海關專員，1787年成為格拉斯哥大學校長。

1723～1790年

Smith, Adam

Scottish social philosopher and political economist. The son of a customs official, he studied at the Univs. of Glasgow and Oxford. A series of public lectures in Edinburgh (from 1748) led to a lifelong friendship with David Hume and to Smith's appointment to the Glasgow faculty in 1751. After publishing The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), he became the tutor of the future Duke of Buccleuch (1763-66); with him he traveled to France, where he consorted with other eminent thinkers. In 1776, after nine years of work, Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the first comprehensive system of political economy. In it he argued in favor of an economic system based on individual self-interest that would be led, as if by an “invisible hand,” to achieve the greatest good for all, and posited the division of labor as the chief factor in economic growth. A reaction to the system of mercantilism then current, it stands as the beginning of classical economics. The Wealth of Nations in time won him an enormous reputation, and would become virtually the most influential work on economics ever published. Though often regarded as the bible of capitalism, it is harshly critical of the shortcomings of unrestrained free enterprise and monopoly. In 1777 Smith was appointed commissioner of customs for Scotland, and in 1787 rector of the University of Glasgow.