No need for society: Adam Smith’s critique of Pufendorf’s summa imbecillitas

Michele Bee and Ivan Sternick

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2023, vol. 30, issue 6, 1076-1092

Abstract: Adam Smith saw in Pufendorf the idea of a sociability prior to government, arising from a perception of the advantages of cooperation in overcoming the alleged natural inability of human beings to provide for their needs. The idea of a principle of sociability independent of government was crucial to Smith, who also addressed since the beginning of the Wealth of Nations the advantages of cooperation. However, as this article intends to show, for him sociability did not arise from the need for the assistance of others, as it is often said, but from the desire for deserved esteem.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2023.2225863

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