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PRUDENT MEN OR INDUSTRIOUS KNAVES? A CLARIFICATION OF AN ASPECT OF THE “ADAM SMITH PROBLEM”
Author(s) -
McNamara Peter
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1996.tb00435.x
Subject(s) - adam smith , humanism , morality , interpretation (philosophy) , epistemology , positive economics , transition (genetics) , sociology , philosophy , political science , law , law and economics , economics , neoclassical economics , linguistics , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
The prevailing interpretation of Smith suggests that there is an easy transition between “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” and “The Wealth of Nations.” The present study looks at Smith's accounts of economic self‐interest in the “Theory” and the “Wealth” with two questions in mind: first, what is the precise nature of Smith's reconciliation of self‐interest and morality? and second, is this reconciliation actualized in commercial society? It concludes that Smith's enterprise was more radical than the civic humanist and jurisprudential interpretations allow, especially insofar as they understate Smith's agreement with Hobbes and Mandeville.