Adam Smith and the problem of unintended consequences

Abstract

Over the years, libraries have accumulated an enormous number of books concerning the work of Adam Smith. Yet, research covering the methodology adopted by the great Scot occupies very little space. This is probably due to the fact that, while Smith was an all-round scholar, specialisation in research activity has progressively reduced the scope of knowledge of each of us. It is therefore rare to find one researcher covering Smith’s entire opus. If, however, we manage to overcome the barriers of specialisation, it is possible to perceive a common denominator that holds the various phases of Smith’s activity together. This denominator is methodological in nature. From his History of astronomy, Smith set himself the problem of the unintended consequences of intentional human actions. He understood that looking at everything that happens as a direct outcome of human will or divine will prevents us from seeing that there is a ‘third person’ that we must take into account: social interaction – that is to say, the process of co-adaptation of individual plans from which, without any design on our part, our rules and institutions are born. Attention to unintended consequences is present in every one of Smith’s works, and it touches on topics ranging from the origin of moral rules to the formation of the self, and from social cooperation to the delimitation of the sphere of intervention of public power.