tegwick
fecc2fd4fa
Implements markitect/llm/ package with concrete LLMAdapter implementations:
- OpenRouterAdapter: HTTP via urllib with retry/backoff on 429/5xx
- ClaudeCodeAdapter: subprocess-based Claude CLI with stdin piping
- Factory pattern: create_adapter("openrouter") or create_adapter("claude-code")
- API key resolution chain: constructor > env var > project-root key file
- 42 unit tests, 2 integration tests (gated on API key / CLI availability)
Also adds the infospace-with-history example with Wealth of Nations VSM
analysis pipeline, templates, schemas, source chapters, and processed
output for chapters 1-2. process_chapters.py now supports --provider
and --model flags for automatic LLM-driven processing.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
8.8 KiB
--- ENTITY: propensity-to-truck-barter-and-exchange ---
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.
--- ENTITY: self-interest ---
Self-interest
Definition
The motivation of individuals to pursue their own advantage in economic transactions. Smith argues that in civilised society, individuals obtain the co-operation of others not through appeals to benevolence but by engaging their self-love — showing them that it is to their own advantage to provide what is desired. Self-interest is the engine that makes exchange function: each party to a bargain acts from regard to their own benefit.
Source Chapter
Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour"
Context
Smith introduces self-interest through the celebrated passage about the butcher, brewer, and baker. He contrasts it with benevolence, arguing that we cannot rely on the goodwill of others for our daily needs in a society of many, and that self-interest provides a more reliable and universal basis for economic co-operation.
Economic Domain
General Theory
Smith's Original Wording
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages."
--- ENTITY: the-bargain ---
The Bargain
Definition
A voluntary bilateral exchange in which each party offers something the other wants. Smith defines the bargain as the fundamental unit of economic interaction: "Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want." It is through bargaining that individuals obtain "the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of" in civilised society, as opposed to relying on benevolence or coercion.
Source Chapter
Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour"
Context
The bargain is presented as the practical expression of the propensity to exchange. Smith argues that it is the dominant mode of economic interaction, used even by beggars who exchange charity-received goods for things they actually need.
Economic Domain
Exchange
Smith's Original Wording
"Whoever offers to another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer."
--- ENTITY: benevolence ---
Benevolence
Definition
The disposition to do good to others out of goodwill rather than self-interest. Smith argues that benevolence is an insufficient basis for economic organisation in a complex society. While a person may secure the friendship of a few through appeals to benevolence, they cannot rely on it to obtain the co-operation of the "great multitudes" they need in civilised life. Even beggars, who depend chiefly on benevolence for their subsistence, conduct most of their actual transactions through exchange.
Source Chapter
Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour"
Context
Benevolence serves as the foil to self-interest. Smith systematically argues that while benevolence exists, it cannot scale to support the complex interdependencies of a specialised economy, making self-interested exchange the necessary coordinating mechanism.
Economic Domain
General Theory
--- ENTITY: surplus-produce ---
Surplus Produce
Definition
The portion of a worker's output that exceeds their own consumption needs and is therefore available for exchange. Smith argues that the certainty of being able to exchange surplus produce for the products of other workers' labour is what encourages every person to dedicate themselves to a particular occupation. Surplus is thus both the material prerequisite and the incentive for specialisation.
Source Chapter
Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour"
Context
Introduced in the passage describing the emergence of specialised trades in a tribal society. The armourer, carpenter, smith, and tanner each produce more of their specialty than they can personally consume, and exchange the surplus for other goods, reinforcing their commitment to specialisation.
Economic Domain
Production
Smith's Original Wording
"And thus the certainty of being able to exchange all that surplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own consumption, for such parts of the produce of other men's labour as he may have occasion for, encourages every man to apply himself to a particular occupation."
--- ENTITY: difference-of-talents ---
Difference of Talents
Definition
The observable variation in skills, aptitudes, and abilities among individuals in different occupations. Smith makes the striking argument that this difference is largely the effect rather than the cause of the division of labour: people are born with roughly equal abilities, and it is their different occupations, shaped by habit, custom, and education, that create the apparent differences. He contrasts humans with dogs, where natural breed differences are far greater but cannot be made useful because animals lack the capacity for exchange.
Source Chapter
Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour"
Context
This argument occupies the final portion of the chapter. Smith uses it to reinforce his claim that exchange, not innate difference, is the driver of specialisation. The philosopher and the street porter were "very much alike" until different employments shaped them differently.
Economic Domain
General Theory
Smith's Original Wording
"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 up to maturity, is not upon many occasions so much the cause, as the effect of the division of labour."
--- ENTITY: common-stock ---
Common Stock
Definition
The aggregate pool of goods and services created when individuals bring their diverse specialised products together through exchange. Smith argues that among humans, unlike animals, different talents are made useful to one another because their products can be "brought, as it were, into a common stock, where every man may purchase whatever part of the produce of other men's talents he has occasion for." This common stock is the emergent result of widespread exchange among specialised producers.
Source Chapter
Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour"
Context
Appears in the chapter's concluding argument comparing humans and animals. While a mastiff cannot benefit from a greyhound's speed due to lack of exchange, humans can pool their different abilities through trade, making all talents contribute to the general welfare.
Economic Domain
Exchange