“ The Wealth of Nations is the most important book ever written about capitalism and its moral ramification. It was intended to be make men better, not just better-off. …. ” 

– Jerry Muller 

“We take the view that Adam Smith has some unspoken and unfulfilled visions about the Free Market Commercial Society which he has in mind and which he has called the System of Natural Liberty….”

– The Hong Kong Heritage 

If the first two pillars we have highlighted represent more on the side of theories, then the third pillar we shall come to now is more about the framework to organize what we can discern from the first two pillars.

And we think herein lies one of the main importance of the ideas and thoughts of Adam Smith . Among all the intellectual structures we have come across, we have come to the view the Intellectual structure of Adam Smith provides the most clear, systematic and inspiring framework through which we can find ways to put almost all the others into places; and to build a crucial link between the civilization of the East and the West; and to come out with actionable plans to work on Our Endeavor.

Meanwhile, famous and influential as Adam Smith and the “ Wealth of Nations ” as they are; and despite their clear impact on human societies over the last over 250 years, we believe that the world generally has understood probably no more than 50% of the Wealth of Nations; and lesser still of The Theory of Moral Sentiments which Adam Smith seems to have always thought to be an even more important work. And we always believe that The Wealth of Nations should really be seen as the sequel to the Theory of Moral Sentiments and that these two masterpieces should really be read and understood as an integrated whole.  

This is before we take into account Adam Smith’s unfinished works , which he has asked his friends to get them all burnt shortly before his death, and for which we can only be able to get a glimpse of through the records and notes of his friends, students and his own deeds over the years.  

Importantly, as far as we can discern, we think Adam Smith has some unspoken and unfulfilled visions on what is attainable for the kind of Free Market Commercial Society he has in mind ( which he has called it The System of Natural Liberty) .

Based on our understanding of the ideas and thoughts of Adam Smith, we think Adam Smith is of the view that while human beings is at once a self-interest oriented specie but at the same time, is also a social creature capable of “ Virtue ”.

As such, Adam Smith sees the following as entirely possible and conceivable: that the ” Invisible hand ” and “ Impartial spectator ” in combination with “ self-love ” and “ sympathy ” converting the “ private interests and passions of men ” into a better society for all, with “all ranks in the society” reaching “ opulence ” but still exhibiting “ virtues ”, with elements of “ prudence ” to moderate the individuals’ excesses; elements of “justice ” to prevent us harming others; and elements of “ benefience ” to promote the happiness of others.

And according to Adam Smith, Happiness is consisted of the three following components: Material Provisions ; Social Engagement ; and the Tranquility coming from Acting Virtuously .

 We believe it is of utmost importance to bear in mind that Adam Smith is a moral philosopher first and foremost and we concur with Jerry Muller that “The Wealth of Nations is the most important ever written about capitalism and its moral ramification. It was intended to make men better; not just better off.”

Herein lies what we see as the unspoken and unfulfilled visions of Adam Smith, and one major task we set for ourself is to really experiment and to find out as far as we can, how feasible and achievable is such visions of Adam Smith.

And this brings us to the potential role of Hong Kong which is arguably one of the few – or even the only – city in the world which has really tried to consciously model its political economy and social structure along the lines of the ideas and thoughts of Adam Smith.