登陆注册
5401600000149

第149章

Thus, if, in any particular society, one were to be asked, what the capital of some other person were, he might answer, "about a thousand pounds."If farther requested to state his reasons for saying so, he might reply, "the property he holds would fetch that in the market, he has been offered that for it," or, "I know it cost him that, and that he laid out his money judiciously." These are all the answers he would think of giving; for common purposes they are all he requires to give, and they are all that his notions actually embrace.If asked again, "what revenue does this person derive from his capital?" he might answer, "I suppose about that which such a capital generally yields, the usual profits of stock -- a fair, reasonable, mercantile profit, neither much above or below par." If questioned farther, as to the nature of this capital, and its return, which he terms profit, be would answer, if simply a practical observer, "Really as to this I have never inquired, I know that where I have lived, and I believe in all civilized societies, certain things, if sold, have certain values, bring certain sums of money, and if kept and judiciously employed, yield certain amounts of money, or moneys' worth.Why they do so, though it must arise, no doubt, from the circumstances and actions and reactions on each other of the various things and persons forming these societies, I have not examined into, and do not pretend to know." His answer, in short, would be that he knows them only as results of the laws governing the general system of which he makes a part.

By taking, therefore, these, and such like common and familiar notions, as the foundation of his reasoning, Adam Smith made his work an explanatory system, not an inductive inquiry.The principles of the inductive philosophy would have led him to inquire into the nature of those familiar notions, -- into the laws or causes of those common occurrences; and he would have set out with the question, What is it, in the nature of man and matter, that makes any thing constitute a capital, or yield a profit? In the words of the Novum Organum, already cited, he would have considered, "that no judgment can ever be formed of things that are rare and remarkable, much less can any thing new be brought to light, unless the causes, and even the causes of the causes, of occurrences the most common and familiar, be rigidly examined and clearly discovered."It is, therefore, an abuse of words to say, that the publication of the Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations, rendered political economy a science of experience.(143) It made it so in no other manner than as every philosophical system is, of necessity.They are all, of necessity, rounded on sortie observations, the fruits of experience.(144) The difference between them is, that those observations which men make concerning the general results of the laws of the universe, and to which convenience leads them to give names, are assumed by the systematic philosopher for the laws themselves, and that the scientific inquirer examines them patiently, and perseveringly, and ascending gradually, from one thing to another, endeavors thus at last to reach the real laws of nature.While the one assumes phenomena for principles, the other applies to the things giving rise to those phenomena, and collecting, comparing, and arranging these, traces out the real connexions between them, the real principles governing nature.

We may easily satisfy ourselves of the difference of the principles which true science reaches, and those employed in the Wealth of Nations, by taking any of the latter and seeing how it agrees with the rules by which the former may be tested.Thus the principle, that self-interest is the great and all-sufficient cause of the increase of wealth both private and public, is evidently nothing else than an application of the common assumption that a man's fortune and his interest are the same, and a generalization of the observation that he, therefore, who understands his interest best arid takes best care of it, will get rich the fastest.But if self-interest be, in the scientific sense, the cause of wealth, both public and private, (145) (the law according to which it either is, or is not produced,) whenever self interest, (the desire of bettering.one's condition)manifests itself in action, it must tend to the increase of public wealth.(146)Do the labors of the cool, calculating, gambler, or of the sharper, add to public wealth? Does the spirit of keen bargaining, and taking every possible advantage of those with whom transfers are effected, that sometimes pervade classes, and communities, add to public wealth? Assuredly not;yet in all these self-interest is the ruling motive of action.Let it not be said, that these are exceptions to a general rule.Though there may be exceptions to general rules, there are no exceptions to scientific principles.

"Wherever a scientific cause, or law, or principle operates, there the thing itself, of which it is said to be the cause, is necessarily produced.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • The Book for Dangerous Women
  • 晴有所归处

    晴有所归处

    多年不见,甚是想念。一别七年,又重新相遇,懵懂时的感情经过时间的发酵愈来愈烈,这发酵后的感情是苦涩难以下咽还是醇厚满口生香呢?
  • 用脑打球

    用脑打球

    狐狸开了一个新马甲,发了一本新书《红色大导演》,还望各位能支持则个,多谢了。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 海贼之绝望的复仇

    海贼之绝望的复仇

    主角是一个在海贼王世界里土生土长的人,没有穿越,没有重生,也没有别的什么奇怪的能力,只有海贼世界里的能力,因为他所在的小岛,被白胡子海贼团给摧毁了,亲人全死,所以主角就励志杀尽所有的白胡子海贼团的成员,(作者的话,海贼王的原著我没有改变任何的,白胡子还是一样的性格,但是我的设定是露西杀了一个白胡子的儿子,所以才有后面的事情,还有我本书的设定是每一个人都是尊从他自己的底线)
  • 天才少女之香琴传说

    天才少女之香琴传说

    家传上古香琴,引领她穿越千年古城,遭遇重生之苦,遭遇孤儿之运,重新为人的她在这千年古城将掀起怎样的风浪。。。
  • 小房子和小路

    小房子和小路

    有时候有些事来了,碰见哪个风景,一段熟悉的路,陌生的隧洞,散漫的体会。
  • 陛下是重生的

    陛下是重生的

    当重生皇帝碰上穿越女会发生怎样的爱情故事呢?
  • 重生清朝当奸臣

    重生清朝当奸臣

    陷害忠良,是我作为一个奸臣的存在的意义。
  • 妈咪,休了魔王爹地吧

    妈咪,休了魔王爹地吧

    尼玛!只不过是去洗澡而已啊,为嘛突然从天花板掉下来一个有着一头长长的头发啊,又长又尖的耳朵啊,眼睛还是紫色的妖怪啊!妖怪还用眼神鄙视她,轻蔑她,说她很吵,然后还将她变哑巴了!你妹的!她的命运本来就够悲惨了,被后妈欺负,被继姐奚落,为嘛上帝还要这样整她啊?这一定是梦,是梦!醒来后除了浑身酸痛之外,也没有再见到妖怪,她果然是做梦!三天后,她拿着那张化验单仰天长啸:为嘛她会怀孕了?!九天后,四个宝宝出生,一个像凤凰,一个像老虎,一个像龙,一个既像乌龟又像蛇!神啊!她是人而不是妖怪啊!为嘛会生出妖怪啊?!四个宝宝咧嘴笑得可爱,齐声呼喊一声,“妈咪!”她终于两眼一翻,晕了……