TY - JOUR
T1 - The Inexorable Sociality of Commerce: The Individual and Others in Adam Smith
AU - Bevan, David
AU - Werhane, Patricia
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - In this paper we reconsider Adam Smith’s ethics, what he means by self-interest and the role this plays in the famous “invisible hand.” Our efforts focus in part on the misreading of “the invisible hand” by certain economists with a view to legitimizing their neoclassical economic paradigm. Through exegesis and by reference to notions that are developed in Smith’s two major works, we deconstruct Smith’s ideas of conscience, justice, self-interest, and the invisible hand. We amplify Smith’s insistence, through his notions of the virtues, that as human beings, and by analogy, organizations, we are intrinsically social, rather than selfish and or egoistically self-centered. Thus, we have responsibilities to and because of others. We conclude that such a managerialist preoccupation with shareholder value is challenged, if not completely refuted, by taking seriously the social character of Smith’s complex vision of commerce.
AB - In this paper we reconsider Adam Smith’s ethics, what he means by self-interest and the role this plays in the famous “invisible hand.” Our efforts focus in part on the misreading of “the invisible hand” by certain economists with a view to legitimizing their neoclassical economic paradigm. Through exegesis and by reference to notions that are developed in Smith’s two major works, we deconstruct Smith’s ideas of conscience, justice, self-interest, and the invisible hand. We amplify Smith’s insistence, through his notions of the virtues, that as human beings, and by analogy, organizations, we are intrinsically social, rather than selfish and or egoistically self-centered. Thus, we have responsibilities to and because of others. We conclude that such a managerialist preoccupation with shareholder value is challenged, if not completely refuted, by taking seriously the social character of Smith’s complex vision of commerce.
KW - Adam Smith
KW - INVISIBLE-HAND
KW - Self-interest
KW - The invisible hand fallacy
KW - The sociality of commerce
KW - Adam Smith
KW - INVISIBLE-HAND
KW - Self-interest
KW - The invisible hand fallacy
KW - The sociality of commerce
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=ceibs_wosapi&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000350874600006&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS
U2 - 10.1007/s10551-013-2042-2
DO - 10.1007/s10551-013-2042-2
M3 - Journal
SN - 0167-4544
VL - 127
SP - 327
EP - 335
JO - Journal of Business Ethics
JF - Journal of Business Ethics
IS - 2
ER -