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The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Episode 174: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2017

⏱️ 65 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Continuing on the foundational text of economics. We talk "invisible hand," "greed is good," tariffs, unproductive labor, city vs. country, and the education racket.

Listen to part 1 first or get the ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: "With My Looks and Your Brains" by The Mr. T Experience. Hear about the singer/songwriter on Nakedly Examined Music #56.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The partial exam in life depends on your support.

0:02.8

To find out how to do that in ways that are cheap or even free, go to partialexamenlife.com

0:07.5

slash support.

0:09.0

Hey, you're listening to Parts of the Exam in Life episode 174 Part 2 on Adventist

0:21.1

Miss Wealth of Nations.

0:22.1

I think we've done a pretty good job giving the ups and downs of the Division of Labor.

0:26.0

I thought a related topic is the relation of the individual to the group.

0:32.0

This is the wealth of nations.

0:33.4

It's not about the individual.

0:35.0

So just a lot of it is about how do we even categorize what the wealth of a group would

0:40.0

be as opposed to how much money a particular individual has.

0:43.6

And hint, it's not going to be how much gold does that nation's government have in the

0:48.0

bank.

0:49.0

It's not a matter of like what the richest, what the government owns.

0:52.0

It's a matter of the wealth of the nation.

0:54.2

So I think if we really want to get at this relationship between the individual and the

0:57.0

group, that's also going to involve us really spelling out what the invisible hand is

1:00.5

about.

1:01.5

Before we do that, can I ask a question?

1:03.6

Every time we do a text that Wes and Dylan read at St. John's, I'm always like kind of

1:07.9

feeling like I'm at a disadvantage or I'm intimidated because you guys have some kind

1:12.2

of history with it.

...

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