What Adam Smith Knew: Moral Lessons on Capitalism from Its Greatest Champions and Fiercest Opponents

by James R. Otteson (Editor)

Overview

What exactly is capitalism, and why do its advocates support it? What are the main objections to capitalism that have been raised by its critics? Are there moral reasons to support capitalism, or to oppose it? In this time of globalization and economic turbulence, these questions could not be more timely or more important.

This book provides some answers through seminal readings on the nature, purpose, and effects of capitalism as understood by its most influential expositors, both historical and contemporary. In addition to Adam Smith himself, the selections gathered here include essays and excerpts by thinkers ranging from Locke and Rousseau to Hayek and Cass Sunstein. All are chosen and arranged to highlight the ways that capitalism bears on a set of fundamental human concerns: liberty, equality, social order, virtue and motivation.

If you want to develop an informed judgment about whether markets and morality mix, this anthology is a good place to begin.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594037603
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	11/04/2014
Pages:	290
Sales rank:	463,927
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

James R. Otteson is the executive director of the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism, and teaching professor of political economy at Wake Forest University. He received his B.A. from Notre Dame and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His published works include Adam Smith’s Marketplace of Life (Cambridge, 2002) and Actual Ethics (Cambridge, 2006), the latter of which won the 2007 Templeton Enterprise Award. His most recent book is Adam Smith (Bloomsbury, 2013). His next book, The End of Socialism, will be published by Cambridge UniversityPress in 2014.

Table of Contents

Foreword Allan H. Meltzer v

Introduction 1

Part I Capitalism and Liberty

1 Second Treatise of Government, 1689 Excerpts from Chapters II, III, IV, V, VIII, IX John Locke 9

2 The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759 Part II, § II: Of Justice and Beneficence, excerpts from Chapters 1-3 Adam Smith 21

3 Social Statics, 1851 Chapter 19: The Right to Ignore the State, §Sect; 1-6 Herbert Spencer 28

4 "What's Wrong with Negative Liberty," 1985 Charles Taylor 36

Part II Capitalism and Equality

5 "Luxury, Commerce, and the Arts," 1754 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 59

6 The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759 Parr VI, § II, Chapter 2: Of the order in which Societies are by nature recommended to our Beneficence, excerpts Adam Smith 68

7 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776 Book I, Chapters 1-2 Book IV, excerpts from Chapters 2 and 9 Adam Smith 70

8 Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1872 §§ I-II Karl Marx Friedrich Engels 88

9 Why Not Socialism? 2009 Chapters 1-2 G. A. Cohen 109

Part III Capitalism and Social Order

10 A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739-40 Book III, Part II: Of Justice and Injustice, §Sect; 1-2 David Hume 125

11 Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 1942 Part II, Chapter 7: The Process of Creative Destruction Joseph A. Schumpeter 145

12 "The Use of Knowledge in Society," 1945 R A. Hayek 151

13 "The Tragedy of the Commons," 1968 Garrett Hardin 164

14 Nudge, 2009 Introduction Richard H. Thaler Cass R. Sunstein 181

Part IV Capitalism, Human Motivation, and Virtue

15 The Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices, Publick Benefits, 1705 "The Grumbling Hive: Or, Knaves turn'd Honest" Bernard Mandeville 197

16 "Of Refinement in the Arts," 1741 David Hume 210

17 The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759 Part VII, § II, Chapter 4: Of Licentious Systems Adam Smith 220

18 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776 Book II, Chapter 3: Of the Accumulation of Capital, or of Productive and Unproductive Labour Adam Smith 229

19 "Free Human Production," 1844 Karl Marx 247

20 Capital, Volume 1,1867 Part I, Chapter 1, § 4: The Fetishism of the Commodity and Its Secret Karl Marx 252

21 "On Doing the Right Thing," 1924 Albert Jay Nock 263

22 Why Not Socialism? 2009 Coda G. A. Cohen 271

Selected Further Reading 273

Index 275