Spontaneous Order

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The bulk part of this paper will focus on the three major Scottish thinkers from eighteenth and nineteenth century. The Scots who deployed the ‘Spontaneous Approach’ are Mandeville, Hume and Smith. The theory of spontaneous order brings together the most important aspects underlying the work of eighteenth century thinkers. It provides a valuable theoretical framework within which the thoughts of these thinkers can be analyzed. Crystals, the organization of neurons in your brain, the ecosystem of Amazon basin and the development of English languages are all the general examples of spontaneous order. However, the notion of “invisible hand” is the classical economic example of the same. The paper focuses on the examination of the use of this …show more content…

It is the realm consisting the institutions and practices which are the direct result of the human actions but not human design. According to Planyi, spontaneous order is contrast with a ‘corporate order’ as there are certain tasks which can only be performed by spontaneous mutual adjustments rather than by corporate order. Smith’s ‘a man’s effort will benefit more people’ precisely gives the root meaning of spontaneous …show more content…

As mentioned above, the notion of ‘Free market economy’ is the classic example to understand theory of spontaneous order. Mandeville’s work clearly had significant influences on the thoughts of Scottish Enlightenment and on the thinkers of that time. Even thought the term ‘spontaneous order’ was coined only in twentieth century, the tradition of it can be traced back to him. There is a distinct connection that travels from Mandeville to Smith and Hume. Moreover, there is also a very little doubt about the role of spontaneous order on the Scottish enlightenment. The term ‘unintended consequences’ are often expressed by the Scottish writers while referring to the effects of spontaneous orders. This term refers to the purpose and intentionality of any action. An order which is created spontaneously is not the realization of an actor’s intention rather is the result of a process which sees the interaction among various actors pursuing different purposes. All actions produce unintended results in the social sphere because they necessarily entail interactions and reactions with so many other social actors which cannot be fully predicted and