What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *

What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *

Abstract Why has the “Adam Smith Problem” recently been discussed in the literature? Although most historians of economic thought regard the problem solved, these discussions cast doubt on this apparent solution. This article suggests that the “Adam Smith Problem” may originate from the concept of the human being developed by Smith in the “Theory of Moral Sentiments”: in this book, human beings can be understood as composed of an empirical and a (quasi) transcendental side, in the form of the impartial spectator. It is argued that it is the tension between these two parts which creates supposed inconsistencies between aspects of the “Theory of Moral Sentiments” and the “Wealth of Nations” like, for example, the role of sympathy and self-interest in each of these books.

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Main Author: Boff,Emmanoel de Oliveira
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Instituto de Economia da Universidade Estadual de Campinas 2018
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-06182018000100001
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spelling oai:scielo:S0104-061820180001000012018-06-06What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *Boff,Emmanoel de Oliveira Adam Smith “Adam Smith Problem” Concept of human being James Otteson Vivienne Brown Abstract Why has the “Adam Smith Problem” recently been discussed in the literature? Although most historians of economic thought regard the problem solved, these discussions cast doubt on this apparent solution. This article suggests that the “Adam Smith Problem” may originate from the concept of the human being developed by Smith in the “Theory of Moral Sentiments”: in this book, human beings can be understood as composed of an empirical and a (quasi) transcendental side, in the form of the impartial spectator. It is argued that it is the tension between these two parts which creates supposed inconsistencies between aspects of the “Theory of Moral Sentiments” and the “Wealth of Nations” like, for example, the role of sympathy and self-interest in each of these books.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessInstituto de Economia da Universidade Estadual de CampinasPublicaçõesEconomia e Sociedade v.27 n.1 20182018-04-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articletext/htmlhttp://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-06182018000100001en10.1590/1982-3533.2017v27n1art1
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language English
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author Boff,Emmanoel de Oliveira
spellingShingle Boff,Emmanoel de Oliveira
What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *
author_facet Boff,Emmanoel de Oliveira
author_sort Boff,Emmanoel de Oliveira
title What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *
title_short What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *
title_full What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *
title_fullStr What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *
title_full_unstemmed What’s the problem, Mr. Smith? Shedding more light (than Heat) on Adam Smith’s view of man *
title_sort what’s the problem, mr. smith? shedding more light (than heat) on adam smith’s view of man *
description Abstract Why has the “Adam Smith Problem” recently been discussed in the literature? Although most historians of economic thought regard the problem solved, these discussions cast doubt on this apparent solution. This article suggests that the “Adam Smith Problem” may originate from the concept of the human being developed by Smith in the “Theory of Moral Sentiments”: in this book, human beings can be understood as composed of an empirical and a (quasi) transcendental side, in the form of the impartial spectator. It is argued that it is the tension between these two parts which creates supposed inconsistencies between aspects of the “Theory of Moral Sentiments” and the “Wealth of Nations” like, for example, the role of sympathy and self-interest in each of these books.
publisher Instituto de Economia da Universidade Estadual de Campinas
publishDate 2018
url http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-06182018000100001
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