Stop 4: New Adam Smith Business School

So, how can we make a positive impact on the world?

Well, Smith describes how individual choices can lead to important social outcomes. He argued that the role each of us plays collectively creates morality, trust and social cohesion - and that this happens without a grand design or oversight. Social interactions are important here. Good behaviour is encouraged by approval. Bad behaviour is discouraged by disapproval. These feedback loops have the potential to create a civilised society.

So in other words if you want to make the world a better place, set a good example.

Yes exactly, every good deed has an immediate impact, but the ripple effects of the impartial spectator and the norms that are created by both our actions and the approval and disapproval of others have an additional impact on the world. Smith says we should be focusing our love on those we see in our everyday lives and spend less time idolising the rich and famous as it’s wisdom and goodness we should be striving towards.

Right! And I think this helps us to answer how Smith's teachings can help us to make nations and people better in the modern world.

Yes, it certainly helps us to answer that question in part. We should be focussing on surrounding ourselves with good and virtuous people and working on these principles within ourselves. Smith sees the general rules of morality that we learn from the world around us as a way for us to bolster the voice of our own impartial spectator when our passions or desires might conflict with what we know is right.

But how can his work guide us in trying to answer the most pressing issues of our time: does Smith help us understand how we might approach the grand environmental challenges we face?

This is a great point, especially as we walk along this path and notice the green spaces around us.

Can you spot any wildlife? Adam Smith noted the natural beauty of Glasgow's setting. Glasgow still boasts lots of green spaces around the city, particularly in the West End where the University is located. But it has changed significantly since Adam Smith was alive.

Smith was writing on the cusp of the industrial revolution, at a time when the environmental impacts of the rapid development of industry were not yet widely recognised.

Yet, he was keenly aware of the ways that human societies had, throughout history, shaped their environment, and of the ways in which agriculture was changing the face of the earth. The Agricultural Revolution saw agricultural output grow faster than the population over the hundred-year period ending in 1770, and thereafter productivity remained among the highest in the world. Although he couldn’t have foreseen some of the important environmental issues we face today, he was nevertheless conscious that natural resources were not infinite, and that all societies, at some point, would run up against inevitable limits. One of the key arguments of The Wealth of Nations was that wealth was not simply money, but rather the ability of everybody to access the necessities of life – another important message for us today as we think about how to make our societies and economies more sustainable.

You’re right. He was certainly a great thinker of his era. I don’t think Smith would have a problem with us criticising and critiquing the limitations in his work – in fact, we know he did this himself by returning and reworking his own work, even after it was published.

In fact he might even suggest that it is vital we use new knowledge about climate change to alter our practices. While Smith might not give us direct guidance about how we should view the environment, in his essays on ‘A History of Astronomy’, he suggests that as our knowledge about the world improves, our ideas should change. Our ability to change as a result of new scientific enquiry is underpinned by our ability as learners. Our understanding and imagination should be disturbed and motivated by feelings of wonder and surprise that come from new forms of knowledge.

So the takeaway here would be that if we want to be enlightened, engaged and enterprising, we have to be constantly learning and engaging with new ideas that might disrupt our own thinking.

Yes, I think you've summed it up nicely. We should be nearing the Adam Smith Business School now. From here, follow the path until you reach the front entrance.

We are coming to the end of our time together. As you go about the rest of your day, maybe you’ll come across opportunities to reflect on Smith’s observations.

An easy and convenient option may present itself to you, think about the impact this decision might have for other people and the environment. Perhaps you will now consider what an impartial spectator would see as the right thing to do in that situation!

Indeed! Think on how the world could operate through a consideration of both markets and morality.

And strive towards wisdom, acting with goodness, integrity and honesty.

And in doing so you'll be loved and respected, becoming a world changer through your loveliness!

Thank you for joining us on this walk. We hope you've enjoyed discovering how relevant Smith's teachings continue to be whilst exploring the University campus.

Adam Smith made a difference during his time at The University of Glasgow with his world changing ideas – now it’s your turn!