Adam Smith’s most famous passage An investigation into the nature and causes of The Wealth of Nations Is this:
We expect our dinner, not from the benevolence of the butcher, brewer, or baker, but because they look after their own interests: we appeal to their self-love, not to their humanity, and we never speak of our needs, but of their advantages.
However, just a few sentences earlier, Smith writes:
No one has ever seen a dog exchange a bone with another dog fairly and discreetly. No one has ever seen an animal communicate by gestures or natural sounds to another, “This is mine, that is yours,” or “I am happy to give this in exchange for that.” When an animal wishes to obtain something from a human or another animal, there is no way of persuasion other than by winning the favor of the servant it desires.
I think Smith may have underestimated the exchange capacity of animals, or at least cats.
Check this out Heartwarming videoI thought it was plausible that the cat thought he was trading something that someone else thought was valuable — a leaf — for something that he thought was valuable — a piece of fish.
Thanks to my lovely wife who is always on the lookout for great animal stories.
