Smith's View on Human Nature
A Problem in the Interpretation of The Wealth of Nations and the Theory of Moral Sentiments
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9256959 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Young Back Choi (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 288-302 |
| Publication date | 1990-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Social Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6764 • E-ISSN: 1470-1162 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00346769000000025 |
| OpenAlex | W2141168440 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 16 |
IIn An Inquiry into the Nature and the Causes of the Wealth of Nations (WAO, Adam Smith recommended a free enterprise system based on the argument that free interactions among self-seeking individuals may lead to opulence. Here, Smith's individual is seemingly driven by material incentives. In The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS), however, Smith suggested the possibility that the manner of moral judgment, viz,, sympathy, may reduce individual differences among people in society. Here, individuals seem to be capable of regulating behavior based on their ability to sympathize with fellow human beings. That WN and TMS flowed from the same pen may be regarded as enigmatic. Indeed, in the nineteenth century the Germans christened the enigma, Das Adam Smith Problem. This much celebrated Problem is based on the interpretation that human nature assumed in WN is selfish, while that assumed in TMS is sympathetic. Human sympathy, in turn, is interpreted as man's phylogenetic disposition to be benevolent or altruistic. Given this interpretation, Smith's conception of human nature seems to be problematic
Economics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Positive economics · Sociology · Economic Theory and Institutions · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism
Essays in positive economics
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Rationality as Process and as Product of Thought
The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, Vol. 5
What Should Economists Do
Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory
A History of Political Economy
The Two Voices of Adam Smith
The Socialization of the Individual in Adam Smith
The Impartial Spectator and Natural Jurisprudence
The Implications of the Theory of Moral Sentiments for Adam Smith's Economic Thought
The Passions and the Interests
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 1997 - 2010 (14) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |