On Smith's Rejection of Laissez Faire ''And the Magical Working of Markets Guided by the Invisible Hand ': The 'Malign' Impact of Projectors, Prodigals and Imprudent Risk Takers on the Sober People in the Macro Economy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Emmett Brady
Keyword(s):  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Laissez Faire ◽  
Risk Takers ◽  
The Invisible

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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