THE PHILOSOPHERS

Philosophy comes from the Greek language, meaning “love of wisdom”. It is the study of human life, nature and existence. Adam Smith was the most important thinker behind Laissez – faire economics during the industrial revolution, which means to let the owners of businesses set their own working conditions, without interference from the government.

To simplify it, he wanted the government to stop telling businesses what to do. This idea originally came from The Enlightenment, but was later built on by Adam Smith. He believed that government regulations, interfered with the production of wealth. Smith was also a supporter of the idea of division of labour, which meant each worker does only one or a few tasks, in the process of making a larger thing.

Effect:

With Adam Smith having these two life changing ideas, it meant, for example, shoes could be made a lot quicker, with one person cutting out the pieces of the shoe, and another sewing the tongue of the shoe. Having people as experts in particular areas meant that things could get done quicker, as you were an expert you knew exactly what you were doing, but it also meant that you would get good quality products as your outcome. People were also a lot more confident in their work if they were experts. The confidence lead to people being happy to go to work.

Long Term Effect:

The two ideas that Smith came up with were both very important for the Industrial revolution, as well as having a huge life changing impact on today’s world. His first idea of Laissez – faire economics, encouraged the governments to let businesses become private businesses, running themselves without any of the government’s intrusion.

His second idea of division of labour, helped businesses understand the best wat to get more efficiency out of their work place. In today’s world we have many successful private businesses, or family businesses thanks to Adam Smith’s first idea. We also have factories and more efficient jobs, in order for things to get done quicker and better thanks to Adam Smith’s second idea.