37 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
37 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
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# Difference of Talents
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## Definition
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The observable variation in skills, aptitudes, and abilities among individuals
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in different occupations. Smith makes the striking argument that this
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difference is largely the effect rather than the cause of the division of
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labour: people are born with roughly equal abilities, and it is their
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different occupations, shaped by habit, custom, and education, that create
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the apparent differences. He contrasts humans with dogs, where natural breed
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differences are far greater but cannot be made useful because animals lack
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the capacity for exchange.
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## Source Chapter
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Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division
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of Labour"
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## Context
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This argument occupies the final portion of the chapter. Smith uses it to
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reinforce his claim that exchange, not innate difference, is the driver of
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specialisation. The philosopher and the street porter were "very much alike"
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until different employments shaped them differently.
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## Economic Domain
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General Theory
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## Smith's Original Wording
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"The difference of natural talents in different men, is, in reality, much
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less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to
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distinguish men of different professions, when grown up to maturity, is not
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upon many occasions so much the cause, as the effect of the division of
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labour."
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