Prompt: Equality and natural talent
Use this quotation from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to talk about whether people are born equal.
“Bellringers” are classroom tools that help set the tone or introduce a topic in the classroom. Adam Smith Works bellringers use quotations from and activities based on the work of Adam Smith, allowing you to illustrate the long history of the ideas you will explore in your classroom by grounding them in great books.
Adam Smith Works Activities are quotations with accompanying activities that you can discuss with your students to introduce a topic, generate deeper discussion, or set the tone for your lesson. They cover topics from economics to history to moral philosophy.
Bellringers are presented as slides ready to pull and use in your classroom. On each slide, you can find speaking notes and links to more information.
Adam Smith Works Activities are quotations with accompanying activities that you can discuss with your students to introduce a topic, generate deeper discussion, or set the tone for your lesson. They cover topics from economics to history to moral philosophy.
Bellringers are presented as slides ready to pull and use in your classroom. On each slide, you can find speaking notes and links to more information.
- Click the hyperlinked quotation (for example, look for something like (WN 1.ii.2) to see the quotation in the context of the full text.
- Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context.
- Alternatively, click on "Contents" to find the relevant chapter of the text. "WN 1.ii.2" is Wealth of Nations Book 1, chapter 2. "TMS I.iii.1.7" is The Theory of Moral Sentiments Book 1, chapter 3, section 1.
(The last number in the citation refers to the paragraph in the section.)
- Where available, click "Click here for more about this quotation" to visit a short article about the passage in question.
- Speaking notes suggest topics for discussion when using each quotation.
“The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of…The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education.” (WN I.ii.4)
This group activity should take ten minutes, plus any time allocated for class discussion.
Divide the class into pairs of students and provide them with the prompts below for discussion.
Do you believe that Adam Smith is right about this?
If Adam Smith is right about this, does anything follow about morality? About public policy?
Once group discussions are complete, students may be asked to share their thoughts with the class or via a short writing assignment.
See the quotation in context as part of the full online text of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations here. Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context.