Smith At 300: How Selfish Soever Man May Be Supposed

Selecting a single favorite quote from the work of one’s favorite thinker is quite a challenge. Although I had been immediately enthusiastic about the project when I first heard about it, I struggled with this selection task for weeks. The first reason is that there are just so many quotable passages in Adam Smith’s work that I like very much, and not always on the same grounds. Some quotes I appreciate because they drive home Smith’s broader argument, or because they are philosophically rich, such as his quite Lockean evaluation of long apprenticeships in the Wealth of Nations ([1776] 1976; WN I. x.c.12). Others have been long-time companions for me, either because they require a more meticulous analysis than one would think, for example the famous brewer or baker passage (WN I.ii.2), or because there is something paradoxical about them, such as the quote that describes “the great precept of nature to love ourselves only as our neighbour is capable of loving us” (Theory of Moral Sentiments [1756] 1976; TMS I.i.5.5). And then there are passages that are enormous fun to read because Smith gives free rein to his literary skills and irony, such as the “poor man’s son” passage in the Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS IV.i.8), or where he sheds his polite restraint, for example when he lashes out against Oxford (TMS V.ii.f.8) or against colluding merchants (WN I.x.c.27). The second reason why the choice wasn’t easy had to do with the underlying, perhaps unintended, incentives of the project itself. Opting for a popular quote came at the risk of more competition and fewer chances in the submission process. In the end, I nevertheless dropped all tactical considerations and went for the well-known opening words in Smith’s first opus magnum, the Theory of Moral Sentiments: “How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it” (TMS I.i.I.1).