tegwick
2d1282a61e
Restructure entity storage from per-chapter subdirectories to a flat
canonical set in output/entities/. Each entity exists as a single file;
duplicates across chapters are detected by slug collision and skipped
(first occurrence wins). Chapter views use {{ include }} transclusion
to reference shared entity files.
Add @{existing_entities} macro to extract-entities template so the LLM
knows which entities already exist and focuses on genuinely new ones.
Refactor _call_llm() from _execute_llm() for callers that handle their
own file I/O. 41 unique entities from 4 chapters (2 duplicates removed).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
1.7 KiB
Propensity to Truck, Barter, and Exchange
Definition
An innate or fundamental disposition in human nature to negotiate, trade, and exchange goods with others. Smith identifies this propensity as the ultimate cause of the division of labour, arguing that it is unique to humans and absent in all other animal species. He leaves open whether it is a primary instinct or a consequence of the faculties of reason and speech, but treats it as the foundational mechanism from which specialisation and economic organisation emerge.
Source Chapter
Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour"
Context
This is the central thesis of the chapter. Smith argues that the division of labour "is not originally the effect of any human wisdom" but rather the "necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence" of this propensity. The entire chapter serves to establish exchange as the causal origin of specialisation.
Economic Domain
General Theory
Smith's Original Wording
"This division of labour, from which so many advantages are derived, is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees and intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature [...] the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another."
Modern Interpretation
This concept prefigures the modern economic assumption of rational self-interest as the basis of market behaviour. It also anticipates evolutionary and institutional economics debates about whether exchange is a natural disposition or a culturally constructed institution.