Intuitive elements in Adam Smith

Abstract This article is about the inclusion of the concept of intuition in the writings of Adam Smith. Intuition is a mental process that includes drawing inferences so quickly that reasoning seems to be absent, synthesizing disparate elements into a grand vision and sound judgment. More common everyday terms include gut feeling, educated hunch, a sixth sense, picking up vibes, and the Eureka or aha experience. The common element in all these descriptions is that intuition is a mental act but not a conscious analytical—logical, sequential, step-by-step, and reasoned—process of thinking. This article shows that Smith’s solution for achieving social harmony, a major interest that runs throughout his various works on ethics and economics, included using not only both self-interest and (what we now call) intuition, but also what Smith called “sympathy” and the “impartial spectator.” This article shows that these ideas are similar to the ones written about by Charles Darwin and Jean Piaget. Second, the article shows that Smith’s early work on grammar not only has relevance to his economics, but also that it used what we now know to be the brain’s division of labor function principle. Third, the article shows that Smith’s early writings on ethics and socio-economic person has direct relevance to his economic treatise, the Wealth of Nations .