Adam Smith: Greed and Benevolence

Adam Smith is no doubt the most famous name in laissez-faire economic theory, and his phrase the "invisible hand" was the most important concept of classical economics. Yet Smith was himself a professor of moral philosophy. Pity was the moral sentiment central to Smith's system, and benevolence was the result of pity. What would Smith the moral philosopher say about the economics of today? The historian John A Taylor takes us back to Smith's context, the Scottish Enlightenment, utilitarianism, and polite society. Taylor then traces how the moral foundations of Smith's thought were later distorted into the fundamentally amoral regime that lies at the heart of today's social and economic crisis. "Greed is good" is the doctrine which is now in vogue.