In 1759, Scotsman Adam Smith, who is widely regarded as the world's first true economist, published his first great work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In it, he postulated that all social evolution can be attributed to "individual human action," as opposed to "individual human design."

By this, he meant that whatever understanding worked well between any two people was likely to lead to progress. The reason for this was that such agreements would, of necessity, be based upon "trust and empathy."

He believed that, if mankind were left alone to sort out all commerce and other interaction on their own, using truth and empathy, they'd succeed at moving the society forward.

He further postulated that, historically, the failure to progress could be attributed to what he termed to be the "Man of System."