“The Stupefaction of the Greatest Share of the People” A Reading of the Problem of Division in Adam Smith

Smith’s analysis of the division of labor shows that it is possible to reconcile the seemingly contradictory discourses found in Books I and V of his Wealth of Nations. This coherence is to be found in the “principles of human nature” and engages his naturalism. From then on, his conception of the individual as an interdependent being appears in all its importance and makes it possible to requalify the nature of his “political liberalism.”