Adam Smith's Marketplace of Life

Abstract

Adam Smith wrote two books, one about economics and the other about morality. His Wealth of Nations argues for a largely free-market economy, while his Theory of Moral Sentiments argues that human morality develops out of a mutual sympathy that people seek with one another. How do these books go together? How do markets and morality mix? James Otteson's 2002 book provides a comprehensive examination and interpretation of Smith's moral theory and shows how his conception of the nature of morality applies to his understanding of markets, language and other social institutions. Considering Smith's notions of natural sympathy, the impartial spectator, human nature, and human conscience the author also addresses the issue of whether Smith thinks that moral judgments enjoy a transcendent sanction. James Otteson sees Smith's theory of morality as an institution that develops unintentionally but nevertheless in an orderly way according to a market model.

The Adam Smith Problem Revisited: A Methodological Resolution

“…is passé." Otteson (2000Otteson ( , 2002, and even more radically Dupuy (1990Dupuy ( , 1993Dupuy ( , 2006 aimed to unify the other way around, claiming that self-interest already played a major role in the TMS. Otteson does so in line with Smith's "familiarity principle" and the "impartial spectator" of the TMS (Otteson 2002, 6-7;see also Campbell 1975, 68-9, 74;Raphael 1975, 85, 90-5); for instance, through conscientious behavior, as directed by the "impartial spectator" (i.e., one's own conscience, as Smith interpreted this idea in the TMS), humans satisfy their (self-) interests -their vanity, as Smith put it (Raphael 1975, 92) -in cooperating with others and for being accepted by society.…”

“…Otteson does so in line with Smith's "familiarity principle" and the "impartial spectator" of the TMS (Otteson 2002, 6-7;see also Campbell 1975, 68-9, 74;Raphael 1975, 85, 90-5); for instance, through conscientious behavior, as directed by the "impartial spectator" (i.e., one's own conscience, as Smith interpreted this idea in the TMS), humans satisfy their (self-) interests -their vanity, as Smith put it (Raphael 1975, 92) -in cooperating with others and for being accepted by society. Otteson (2002) argues that this also constitutes the basis for evolving market order in the economic sphere, as analyzed by Smith in the WN.…”

Commercial Relations: From Adam Smith to Field Experiments

“…Commerce provides resources to maintain children and the sick and infi rm, and the preservation and multiplication of life is morally good. Smith promotes commerce on moral grounds because some morally desirable outcomes, such as the preservation and support of life, are a result of commerce (see Otteson 2002 ).…”

James R. Otteson, Adam Smith, London: Bloomsbury, 2013, pp. 200

“…In the Marketplace of Life, Otteson listed many such features, giving a more elaborate description of human being, as was seen by Adam Smith. That description includes sympathy, self-partiality, sociability, being self-interested, a desire to be praiseworthy, the impulse to adopt the perspective of an impartial spectator and having a drive for self-preservation and security 12 . Otteson's Adam Smith would rather benefit from making this list even more extensive and with more elaborate description.…”