Reading the Invisible Hand
An Epistemological Consideration
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4297729 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jocelyn Hickey ([email protected], corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 935-950 |
| Publication date | 2022-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182702-10005788 |
| OpenAlex | W4285047387 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 26 |
Within the discipline of economics, as within all academic disciplines, scholars produce texts in which they examine, discuss, and sometimes invoke their intellectual predecessors. As historians of economic thought, we are faced with the task of evaluating the readings put forward by these scholars. This article argues that to adequately evaluate such readings one must understand the inalienable role that a scholar's epistemological framework plays in the conditioning of their reading of historical texts and concepts. To do so, the author examines two divergent readings of Adam Smith: Jacob Viner's reading of Smith's invisible hand as God and Paul Samuelson's reading of the same three words as an allocative mechanism that translates an individual's "selfish" actions into the public good or "the best good of all" within a state of perfect competition. These distinct readings from two North American economists with remarkably similar historical, geographical, and academic contexts provide the ideal case for exploring the manner in which readers' differing epistemological commitments shape their different readings of historical concepts and texts. The exploration of these readings and the manner in which they are epistemologically conditioned are embedded within the wider discussion around an interpretation put forward by Quentin Skinner. Thus, this article offers an account of the variance in readings of the invisible hand and contributes toward the contemporary revisionist Smithian literature that explores, criticizes, and revises dominant readings of Smith
Adam smith · Allocative efficiency · Competition (biology · Economics · Epistemology · Ideal (ethics · Interpretation (philosophy · Invisible hand · Linguistics · Neoclassical economics · Positive economics · Reading (process · Sociology · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Computer Science · Economic Theory and Institutions · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism
Economics
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
On the Politics of the Classical Economists
Paul Samuelson on the History of Economic Analysis
An Authentic Account of Adam Smith
A Review of Economic Theory
Rethinking the “Chicago Smith” Problem
Adam Smith and the Division of Labour among the Social Sciences
What the World Thought of Jacob Viner
What Did Smith Mean by the Invisible Hand
Jacob Viner, 1892-1970
Adam Smith and Laissez Faire
God and the Market
Bringing the outside in
The end of International Relations theory
What's the Big Idea? Intellectual History and the Longue Durée
The History of Ideas
The History of Economic Thought as Intellectual History
Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas
Motives, Intentions and the Interpretation of Texts
The Perseverance of Paul Samuelson's Economics
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |