Question

Do you find Adam smiths thoughts on self interest to be compelling? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Self interest means an individual's personal interest without thinking about others.Adam Smith argued that public benefit depends on private vices.Individuals acting from private self interest can make the society better off.He said that self interest will lead to public interest by the working of the invisible hand. Mandeville , unlike Smith , regarded self interest as selfishness .As a result Smith has been accused of defending anti moral economics and one that supports the selfish utility maximising homo economics..There is difference of opinion in Smith's ethics in his two works ,Wealth of Nations and The theory of moral sentiments.In TMS he said that people are motivated by sympathy and in WN he said that people are motivated by selfishness.However Adam Smith 's mature thinking is reflected in his ethics about self interest.Smith in WN supported self interest but it is not the same as selfishness.In TMS also he has supported self interest saying that it is natural and also that it is worthy of praise in the moral sense.I agree to Smith and a simple example will justify Smith's view.If a person invests his capital in his own interest in a free market and produces goods and services according to the needs of the consumers, he will prosper.Here he gets the profit but the public interest is served by the invisible hand in the free market.So it means that individuals work according to his self interest without thinking about public but the invisible hand looks after public interest.