Öffentliche Meinung in der Gesellschaftstheorie von Adam Smith

Against the background of the Great Depression, this thesis takes a social-scientific look at Adam Smith's philosophy and economics. For this purpose, his social theory is analyzed with regard to the social-psychological theory of public opinion. It will be shown that Adam Smith, in the tradition of moral-sense philosophy, ascribes to man a social nature based on the capacity for sympathy (in today's parlance: empathy) and the inner judgmental agency of the impartial spectator he conceived. According to Adam Smith, public opinion has a behavioral regulation and integration function. Interactions within the vital society are regulated without conscious intervention, as if guided by an invisible hand, by means of sanctioning through approval and disapproval. The image of the invisible hand is valid.