Utilitarianism and the role of utility in Adam Smith

Changing Tenurial Forms and Service Renders in the North East of Scotland between the Fifteenth and the Eighteenth Centuries: Evidence of Social Development, Capitalised Agrarianism and Ideological Change

“…Smith claims a connection between wealth and moral superiority: ‘wealth and greatness, when considered in this complex view, strike the imagination as something grand and beautiful and noble, of which the attainment is well worth all the toil and anxiety which we are so apt to bestow upon it’. Furthermore, wealth and power, according to Smith, are ‘the natural consequences of prudence, industry, and application; qualities with which [magnanimity and generosity] are not inseparably connected’ (Smith quoted in Witztum and Young, 2013: 590–1). The breakdown of demesne farming, although hastened by external forces such as plague, might be connected to the rise of ‘entrepreneurs’ utilising a ‘capitalist’ approach in the broad sense noted by Dyer (2000: 307–9).…”

Crime and Punishment: Adam Smith’s Theory of Sentimental Law and Economics

“…We suggest that this deep divergence is the consequence of a different anthropological view of human beings. For Smith, people are not hedonistic pleasure seekers nor rational calculators (see among others Witztum and Young 2013). In The Theory of Moral Sentiments (A.…”

Concurrent Participation in Federally-Funded Welfare Programs and Empowerment Toward Economic Self-Sufficiency

“…The desire to see other people happy implies working for the greater good of society. Since Smith (1759Smith ( , 1976 elaborated on the happiness of others, many scholars consider Adam Smith a protoutilitarian (Campbell, 1971;Campbell & Ross, 1981;Otteson, 2002;Smith, 1759Smith, , 1976Valcarce, 2010;Witztum & Young, 2013). About two centuries later, progressive social campaigner Irvin Fisher contributed to the development of Utility Theory, which accounts for people's choices of goods and services (Fisher, 1930;Stigler, 1950).…”