Connections in Political Economy - Adam Smith: Self Interest & the Market, and Sympathy

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Name and Link Type of Resource Description

Smith, Adam [1776], The Wealth of Nations.Book I, Chapter II
Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour
The text is available online, here or or here Seminal Text - online This chapter contains the famous 'not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker...." statement.

Smith, Adam [1776], The Wealth of Nations.Book IV, Chapter II
Of Restraints upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of such Goods as can be Produced at Home IV.2.9
The text is available online, here or Seminal Text - online This chapter contains the well-known statement about the "invisible hand".

Smith, Adam.(1759) The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Especially Part I: Of the Propriety of Action
The text is available online, here or or here Seminal Text - online In this book Smith introduces and develops his concept of Sympathy.

McLean, Iain, Adam Smith, Radical and Egalitarian: An Interpretation for the 21st Century
see Chapter 5, The Invisible Hand and the Helping Hand
Link to bookseller Book This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723-90), the author of "The Wealth of Nations", was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. Smith's "right-wing" reputation was sealed after his death when it was not safe to claim that an author may have influenced the French revolutionaries. But, as the author, also, of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", which he probably regarded as his more important book, Smith sought a non-religious grounding for morals, and found it in the principle of sympathy, which should lead an impartial spectator to understand others' problems.

Wilson, T and A.S. Skinner (1976) eds, The Market and the State.
Oxford University Press (1 Feb 1977)
See the chapter by Wilson: 'Sympathy and Self-Interest'.

Name and Link	Type of Resource	Description

Smith, Adam [1776], The Wealth of Nations.Book I, Chapter II Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour The text is available online, here or or here	Seminal Text - online	This chapter contains the famous 'not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker...." statement.
Smith, Adam [1776], The Wealth of Nations.Book IV, Chapter II Of Restraints upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of such Goods as can be Produced at Home IV.2.9 The text is available online, here or	Seminal Text - online	This chapter contains the well-known statement about the "invisible hand".
Smith, Adam.(1759) The Theory of Moral Sentiments Especially Part I: Of the Propriety of Action The text is available online, here or or here	Seminal Text - online	In this book Smith introduces and develops his concept of Sympathy.
McLean, Iain, Adam Smith, Radical and Egalitarian: An Interpretation for the 21st Century see Chapter 5, The Invisible Hand and the Helping Hand Link to bookseller	Book	This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723-90), the author of "The Wealth of Nations", was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. Smith's "right-wing" reputation was sealed after his death when it was not safe to claim that an author may have influenced the French revolutionaries. But, as the author, also, of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", which he probably regarded as his more important book, Smith sought a non-religious grounding for morals, and found it in the principle of sympathy, which should lead an impartial spectator to understand others' problems.
Wilson, T and A.S. Skinner (1976) eds, The Market and the State. Oxford University Press (1 Feb 1977) See the chapter by Wilson: 'Sympathy and Self-Interest'.