32 lines
1 KiB
Markdown
32 lines
1 KiB
Markdown
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# The Philosopher
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## Definition
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A person whose occupation is observation and speculation rather than direct
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production — "men of speculation, whose trade it is not to do any thing, but
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to observe every thing." Smith treats the philosopher as an economic actor
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whose specialised function is combining knowledge from diverse fields to
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produce innovations and improvements, analogous to how the workman improves
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their own narrow task.
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## Source Chapter
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Book I, Chapter 1: "Of the Division of Labour"
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## Context
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Introduced near the end of Smith's discussion of the third mechanism (invention
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of machinery). Smith notes that as society progresses, philosophy itself becomes
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a specialised trade, subdivided into branches, with each philosopher becoming
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expert in their field — the division of labour applied to intellectual work.
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## Economic Domain
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General Theory
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## Smith's Original Wording
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"In the progress of society, philosophy or speculation becomes, like every other
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employment, the principal or sole trade and occupation of a particular class of
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citizens."
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