--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What Smith and Marx have in common is…" description: "\"What Smith and Marx have in common is that they were both philosophers of great vision and perceptiveness, deep humanity, and a sense of social reality..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbb/allen-w-wood-2748_century_what-smith-and-marx-have-in-common-is-th_1441060.jpg" --- # What Smith and Marx have in common is that they were both… ![“What Smith and Marx have in common is that they were both philosophers of great vision and perceptiveness, deep humanity, and a sense of social reality that has been lost in the abstractly formalistic economic theories that have dominated the field since the last third of the nineteenth century.” quote by Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbb/allen-w-wood-2748_century_what-smith-and-marx-have-in-common-is-th_1441060.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbb/allen-w-wood-2748_century_what-smith-and-marx-have-in-common-is-th_1441060.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbb/allen-w-wood-2748_century_what-smith-and-marx-have-in-common-is-th_1441060.jpg) > “What Smith and Marx have in common is that they were both philosophers of great vision and perceptiveness, deep humanity, and a sense of social reality that has been lost in the abstractly formalistic economic theories that have dominated the field since the last third of the nineteenth century.” [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Notes that Smith and Marx offered deep, humane visions of society, now missing in modern economic theory. **In simple terms:** Human-centered philosophy is lacking today. Key Takeaway Seek humane perspectives in economics. Themes philosophy economics humanism Mood reflective critical Type analytical thought‑provoking When to use this quote - policy analysis - academic curricula - public debates - social research Key Concepts classical liberalism critical theory Questions to Reflect On - What would a humane economic model look like? - How can we reintroduce moral philosophy into economics? A Different Perspective Modern economics may prioritize data over lived experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Common](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/common/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Economic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economic/) [Economic theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economic-theory/) [Fields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fields/) [Great vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-vision/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost/) [Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marx/) [Marx Common](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marx-common-5156938/) [Nineteenth century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nineteenth-century/) [Perceptiveness Deep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perceptiveness-deep-5156939/) [Philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosopher/) [Philosophers Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophers-great-1563028/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Smith Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smith-marx-5156937/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) [Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/) [Thirds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thirds/) [Vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vision/) ## Related quotes > [Very few of us can now place ourselves in the mental condition in which even such philosophers as the great Descartes were involved in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/very-few-of-us-can-now-place-ourselves-in-the-mental-condition-in/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [The great philosophers and the great works are standards for the selection of what is essential. Everything that we do in studying the history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-jaspers/the-great-philosophers-and-the-great-works-are-standards-for-the/) [Karl Jaspers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-jaspers/) > [I have a general moral: great philosophers may be great, but that is not a reason to follow them. Don't be a follower. Work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-crane/i-have-a-general-moral-great-philosophers-may-be-great-but-that-is/) [Tim Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-crane/) > [I have always really enjoyed building great teams that execute a great vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hank-green/i-have-always-really-enjoyed-building-great-teams-that-execute-a/) [Hank Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hank-green/) > [Mass badly celebrated is an enormous evil. Ah! it is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-catherine-emmerich/mass-badly-celebrated-is-an-enormous-evil-ah-it-is-not-a-matter-of/) [Anne Catherine Emmerich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-catherine-emmerich/) > [Just as no great painting has ever been created by a committee, no great vision has ever emerged from the herd.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-g-bennis/just-as-no-great-painting-has-ever-been-created-by-a-committee-no/) [Warren G. Bennis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-g-bennis/) > [It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vaclav-havel/it-is-not-enough-to-stare-up-the-steps-we-must-step-up-the-stairs/) [Vaclav Havel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vaclav-havel/) > [I think that a lot of players and a lot of teams don't think of contact lenses as being a part of that essential…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-reilly/i-think-that-a-lot-of-players-and-a-lot-of-teams-don-t-think-of/) [Heather O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-reilly/) > [Thomas Edison had great visions (for lights, music players, movies, etc.) but he knew they didn't count until he could make them work. His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kotler/thomas-edison-had-great-visions-for-lights-music-players-movies-etc/) [Philip Kotler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kotler/) > [You remember that my great vision came to me when I was only nine years old, and you have seen that I was not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/black-elk/you-remember-that-my-great-vision-came-to-me-when-i-was-only-nine/) [Black Elk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/black-elk/) > [Vision with action can change the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-a-baker-2/vision-with-action-can-change-the-world/) [J. A. Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-a-baker-2/) > [I think young people ought to seek that differential experience that is going to knock them off dead center. I was a typical American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-michener/i-think-young-people-ought-to-seek-that-differential-experience-that/) [James A. Michener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-michener/) > [He's got great vision. If he can get outside, he can take it all the way. That's what we were worried about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/he-s-got-great-vision-if-he-can-get-outside-he-can-take-it-all-the/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [With my size and speed, my ability to make moves and great vision, I'm sometimes feel like it's an unfair advantage over the defense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ladainian-tomlinson/with-my-size-and-speed-my-ability-to-make-moves-and-great-vision-i-m/) [LaDainian Tomlinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ladainian-tomlinson/) > [“A great vision should paint a picture of a brighter future for your customers. It’s not about you. It’s about them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-banfield/a-great-vision-should-paint-a-picture-of-a-brighter-future-for-your/) [Richard Banfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-banfield/) ## More by Allen W. Wood > [For the utilitarian, there is a fact of the matter about the good (the general happiness, or whatever conception of the good the utilitarian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/for-the-utilitarian-there-is-a-fact-of-the-matter-about-the-good-the/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [No theory about our bodies as mere objects of observation and calculation (as distinct from partners in communicative interaction, assumed to be free) can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/no-theory-about-our-bodies-as-mere-objects-of-observation-and/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [Kantian ethical theory distinguishes three levels: First, that of a fundamental principle (the categorical imperative, formulated in three main ways in Kant's Groundwork); second,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/kantian-ethical-theory-distinguishes-three-levels-first-that-of-a/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [Some empirical feelings, such as sympathy, are indispensable parts of certain moral virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/some-empirical-feelings-such-as-sympathy-are-indispensable-parts-of/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [We commit not only theoretical error but also moral wrong in objectifying ourselves or other rational beings, ignoring their capacities for free action and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/we-commit-not-only-theoretical-error-but-also-moral-wrong-in/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [Kant certainly was sympathetic with the metaphysical tradition of rational theology that he criticized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/kant-certainly-was-sympathetic-with-the-metaphysical-tradition-of/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [That Hegel's theory is derivative from Fichte's does not prevent it from being strikingly original and of independent value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/that-hegel-s-theory-is-derivative-from-fichte-s-does-not-prevent-it/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [It is sad to witness the persistence in our society of the racism and xenophobia that seems to be a permanent part of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/it-is-sad-to-witness-the-persistence-in-our-society-of-the-racism-and/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [It is rational to choose the right means to your ends to develop very elegant abstract formal theories of rational choice, and then turn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/it-is-rational-to-choose-the-right-means-to-your-ends-to-develop-very/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [We can never prove that we are free or integrate our freedom in any way into our objective conception of the causal order of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/we-can-never-prove-that-we-are-free-or-integrate-our-freedom-in-any/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [Kant regards the universalizability test for maxims as focused on a very special sort of situation: one where the agent is tempted to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/kant-regards-the-universalizability-test-for-maxims-as-focused-on-a/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [My own view is that Kant's conception of the duality of the good (morality and happiness, the good of our person and the good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/my-own-view-is-that-kant-s-conception-of-the-duality-of-the-good/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [It is actually a nice question how far Descartes himself endorses the monological and metaphysically dualistic theory of mind associated with his name and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/it-is-actually-a-nice-question-how-far-descartes-himself-endorses-the/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [In fact people do not know enough about themselves and what is good for them to form a sufficiently definite conception of the general…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/in-fact-people-do-not-know-enough-about-themselves-and-what-is-good/) [Allen W. 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