Description
Write a short essay on one of the following two topics
Order 560761
- On three occasions Adam Smith invoked the image of an “invisible hand”. Much
controversy has been stimulated by these references. How do you interpret them? - In his essay “Adam Smith’s View of Man”, Ronald Coase discusses the China passage
from Theory of Moral Sentiments. He observes that:
“The quotation clearly can be use, rightly in my view, as an illustration of the strength of self-interest in determining human behaviour….It is not the love of mankind which makes the ‘man of humanity’ willing to make this sacrifice, but that he sees himself through the eyes of an impartial spectator,…love for the dignity and superiority of his own character…if he had to face such a choice, would lead the man of humanity to
sacrifice his little finger.”
In your essay, use Coase’s observation and the China example to motivate your
connection of some of the most important of Smith’s ideas:
The impartial spectator
The institutes that enable civil society and how/why they do so
The connections of these ideas from the Theory of Moral Sentiments to the most important
arguments in Wealth of Nations.