Self-Interest vs. Greed and the Limitations of the Invisible Hand

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 949-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew T. Clements
Keyword(s):  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Invisible

Law and the Invisible Hand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Paul Malloy
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Social Cooperation ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Common ◽  
Contemporary Interpretation ◽  
The Invisible

A contemporary interpretation of Adam Smith's work on jurisprudence, revealing Smith's belief that progress emerges from cooperation and a commitment to justice. In Smith's theory, the tension between self–interest and the interests of others is mediated by law, so that the common interest of the community can be promoted. Moreover, Smith informs us that successful societies do at least three things well. They promote the common interest, advance justice through the rule of law, and they facilitate our natural desire to truck, barter, and exchange. In this process, law functions as an invisible force that holds society together and keeps it operating smoothly and productively. Law enhances social cooperation, facilitates trade, and extends the market. In these ways, law functions like Adams Smith's invisible hand, guiding and facilitating the progress of humankind.

scholarly journals The virtual reality of the invisible hand

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-134
Author(s):  
Emma Tieffenbach
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
The Real ◽  
Virtual Self ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Common ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Invisible

Self-centred based explanations such as invisible-hand accounts look like armchair constructions with no relevance to the real world. Whether and how they nonetheless provide an insight into social reality is a puzzling matter. Philip Pettit’s idea of self-interest virtually bearing on choices offers the prospect of a solution. In order to assess the latter we first distinguish between three variants of invisible-hand explanations, namely: a normative, an historical and a theoretical one. We then show that, while the model of virtual self-interest is a helpful gloss on each variant, it may not convincingly succeed, pace Pettit, in reconciling the economic mind with the common mind.

Can Individual Morality and Commercial Life Be Reconciled?

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-96
Author(s):  
Adrian Walsh ◽  
Tony Lynch ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Concern For Others ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Laissez Faire ◽  
The Invisible

Socialists and defenders of laissez-faire share the view that in the market agents pursue their self-interest, not the good of others. On this basis, socialists reject the market as an arena of immorality, while laissez-faire theorists attempt to defuse the charge by relying on the providential consequences of the "invisible hand," However, both stances presuppose a view of morality that too sharply separates self-interest and altruism. Some try to separate the economic arui morality into discrete spheres. In contrast, a compatibilist account shows the ways a concern for personal profit and a concern for others can come together. Such a motivationalist approach allows one to re-conceive the "invisible hand." It is no longer a serendipitous justification of the merely self-interested, but an invitation to think of the various mixtures of altruism and self-interest required to produce those results that may commend the market.

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