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THE EDIFYING DISCOURSES OF ADAM SMITH: FOCALISM, COMMERCE, AND SERVING THE COMMON GOOD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2022

Erik W. Matson Open the ORCID record for Erik W. Matson [Opens in a new window]
Erik W. Matson*
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Erik W. Matson: Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Adam Smith’s discourses aim to encourage mores, practices, and public policies in service to the common good, or that which a universally benevolent spectator would approve of. The Wealth of Nations illustrates how in pursuing our own happiness within the bounds of prudence and commutative justice, we may be said, literally or metaphorically, to cooperate with God in furthering the happiness of humankind. The Theory of Moral Sentiments elaborates an ethic, here called “focalism,” that instructs us to proportion our beneficent efforts to our knowledge and ability. The relationship between political economy and focalism is bidirectionally reinforcing. In one direction, the ethic of focalism contributes to the moral authorization of self-love, thereby invigorating and dignifying honest commercial activities. In the other direction, the insights of political economy reinforce the ethic of focalism by elaborating how through prudent commerce and focal beneficence, we cooperate, even if only metaphorically, in a grand social enterprise.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , June 2023 , pp. 298 - 320
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the History of Economics Society

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Footnotes

I thank Jimena Hurtado, Dan Klein, Maria Pia Paganelli, and four anonymous referees for JHET for valuable feedback. Thanks also to participants at the Invisible Hand Seminar at George Mason University.

References

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