...may originally have been more marginal than we care to admit. The point was well made by Adam Smith: The difference of natural talents in different men...than we are aware of. . . . The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems...

...quotation in the study notebook even though it omits a large segment of the sentence. Smith's text reads: "The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of. and the very different genius which appears to distinguish men of different professions, when grown...

...produce of its industry, or, rather, is precisely the same thing with that exchangeable value." 1 9. "The difference of natural talents in different men is in reality much less than we are aware of." Wealth of Nations, Book I, ch. ii. 20. "Mit diesen philosophischen Ueberzeugungen tritt nun Adam Smith...

...philosopher's "vanity" makes him skeptical. Smith explains this to vindicate the more general proposition that the "difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of" ( WN I.ii.4). This is as strong an argument for natural equality as appears in The Wealth of Nations.12...

...reflected in the ability of individuals to kill one another. Adam Smith makes a more radical claim: "The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to distinguish men of different professions, when grown...

...affirmative. "The difference of natural talents in different men," he says (1904: 17 [1976b: 28-29]), "is, in reality, much less than we are aware of. ......between ... a philosopher and a common street porter . . . seems to arise not so much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education. When they came...

...interesting to note that Smith sees a strong and pervasive equality of talents among human beings. "The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of." It is "habit, custom, and education" which account for the major differences. What does bring about...

...and not our nature that accounts for most of the variation that emerges as we grow into adulthood: The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to distinguish men of different professions, when grown...

...talents" argument. No sooner had Smith introduced the idea, in the passages cited above, than he adds that "the difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of."19 This applied even to philosophers, a class designated for rule in Plato's Republic because of...

...were essentially like other people, save for a verbal veneer. Hence this passage in Wealth of Nations: The difference of natural talents in different men...less than we are aware of. ... The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a street porter, for example, seems to arise...