Conclusions

This conclusion provides a summary of the work that has been done, shows the achievements of the book, outlines the problems still open and suggests some lines of research into Smith’s thought. In sum, Adam Smith’s understanding of human beings would be based on an idea of harmony between oneself and the others. In particular, by focusing on Smith’s conceptions of human nature, mind and the self and their theoretical articulation, the book reconstructs how this harmony between oneself and the others would mature in Smith’s thought. This problem has been the subject of a new reconstruction of Smith’s moral philosophy, by reconsidering some key concepts in Smithian literature, by focusing on Smith’s conception of immediacy and by rediscussing the relationship between nature and morality in Smith’s philosophy. I have then set this work within a wider investigation of the role of history, morality, society and natural education. Finally, this part describes the achievements of the work (for example, a new systematisation of some concepts of Smith’s thought), open problems (for example, the question of human subjectivity) and suggests new lines of research (for example, Scottish Enlightenment and the problem of unintentional dimension).