Abstract
Smith scholarship is split on whether the apparent conflict between self-interest in the Wealth of Nations (WN) and sympathy in the Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) indicates an intractable problem or is merely the result of a misunderstanding of Smith’s overall system. This chapter is written as a response both to the believers in das Adam Smith Problem and to those who offer a way of pulling the two texts together. In the first place, I argue that das Adam Smith Problem highlights the complexity of Smith’s body of work and his belief that the motives for behavior in the private sphere will be different from and sometimes conflict with the rules of the public sphere. Second, I argue that the higher-level economic order relies fundamentally on norms of behavior and rules of conduct that are nourished by the sympathy fostered in the lower-level orders of family and friends. At the same time, the economic order affects these lower orders, influencing in turn the norms of behavior and rules of conduct that support economic activity. Understanding how these different levels of order interact is central to understanding the often murky link between economics and morality. Such an understanding also begs for the rescue of the social sciences from the silos of separate political and economic analysis back to a Smithian ‘moral philosophy’ that takes into account human social behavior in its many forms.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Hall, Lauren K. (2014). Family and the Politics of Moderation: Private Life, Public Goods, and the Rebirth of Social Individualism (Waco: Baylor University Press).
Hayek, F. A. (1945). ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society’, American Economic Review 35(4): 519–30.
Hirschman, Albert O. (1977). The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Horwitz, Steven (2005a). ‘Two Worlds at Once: Rand, Hayek, and the Ethics of the Micro-and Macro-Cosmos’, Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 6(2). Ayn Rand Among the Austrians: 375–403.
Horwitz, Steven (2005b). ‘The Functions of the Family in the Great Society’, Cambridge Journal of Economics 29(5): 669–84.
McCloskey, Deirdre N. (2006). The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Montes, Leonidas (2003). ‘Das Adam Smith Problem: Its Origins, the Stages of the Current Debate, and One Implication for Our Understanding of Sympathy’, Journal of the History of Economic Thought 25(1): 63–90.
Nerozzi, Sebastiano and Nuti, Pierluigi (2011). ‘Adam Smith and the Family’, History of Economic Ideas XIX(2): 11–41.
Nieli, Russell (1986). ‘Spheres of Intimacy and the Adam Smith Problem’, Journal of the History of Ideas 47: 611–24.
Smith, Adam (1976). Lectures on Jurisprudence (Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund).
Smith, Adam (1981). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Indianapolis: Liberty Classics).
Smith, Adam (1982). The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Edited by D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund).
Teichgraeber, III, Richard. (1981). ‘Rethinking Das Adam Smith Problem’, Journal of British Studies 20(2): 106–23.
Wilson, D. and Dixon, W. (2006). ‘Das Adam Smith Problem: A Critical Realist Perspective’, Journal of Critical Realism 5(2): 251–72.
Witztum, Amos (1998). ‘A Study into Smith’s Conception of the Human Character: Das Adam Smith Problem Revisited’, History of Political Economy 30(3): 489.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Lauren K. Hall
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hall, L.K. (2014). Two Invisible Hands: Family, Markets, and the Adam Smith Problem. In: Hardwick, D.F., Marsh, L. (eds) Propriety and Prosperity. Archival Insights into the Evolution of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137321053_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137321053_13
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-45778-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-32105-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)