在瞭解亞當．史密斯《道德情操論》與《國富論》的相互關係後，我們必須指出：一、經濟學原屬於道德哲學領域；二、道德教育在商業社會的重要性；三、企業經營必須重視企業倫理的價值。因此，我們必須重新重視亞當．史密斯這兩本著作之間的關連性，亦即法蘭西斯．福山所指出的，人類唯有具備了市場經濟交易過程中的道德文化因素－「信任」，整體社會才能有細密的勞動分工、順暢的交易活動及生活福祉的增進。 Adam Smith is famous for his masterpiece "Wealth of Nations" (WN, 1776), but only few people know about his another book "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" (TMS, 1759). In fact, according to his biography, we realize TMS is prior to WN. Adam Smith is not only an economist but also a moral philosopher. For decades, the connection between TMS and WN is not well understood by many people.
Some German scholars pointed out that Adam Smith''s "sympathy" in TMS contradicts with "self-interest" in WN and that''s so-called well-known "Adam Smith Problem" in philosophy field. But after doing some literature reviews, we find Adam Smith''s TMS and WN are not inconsistent. The virtues of "prudence", "benevolence" and "justice" in TMS are the essential bases of "self-interest" in WN.
"Trust" is another important point in Adam Smith''s thoughts. The idea of "trust" which Francis Fukuyama mentioned and discussed in his book is also from Adam Smith. Fukuyama indicated that "trust" could lower transaction cost and extend transaction order in market economy and is beneficial to the economic growth. We could conclude as follows with Adam Smith’s legacies: (1) Economy originally belongs to moral philosophy. (2) Moral education is necessary in commercial society. (3) Enterprises must emphasize business ethics.
