Invisible Hand Seminar

Eugene Heath (SUNY New Paltz) - Adam Smith's Conception of Self-Love

Saturday, October 14, 2023 4:00 PM to 5:45 PM EDT
Buchanan Hall, D180

Established in 2011, the Invisible Hand Seminar advances liberal discourse in the spirit of Adam Smith. The seminar meets five Saturdays a semester, from 4:00-5:45 PM, in Buchanan Hall D180. Past seminars have featured senior scholars and graduate students working in economics, philosophy, sociology, history, political theory, and law. 

Abstract: This presentation reassesses the nature and role of self-love in Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments. After distinguishing several notions of self-love (Aristotelian, Stoic, Augustinian), I contend that Smith employs an Augustinian notion of self-love as a second-order affection attached to our natural first-person perspective. Self-love renders us partial, but the impartial spectator allows an escape from this affection to self. I conclude by noting how this understanding may affect specific interpretive questions regarding Smith's moral and economic theories. 

Reading: Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, (1) Part I, Section 1, Chs. 3 & 4 (pp. 16–23); (2) Part III, Ch. 4 (pp. 156–161)

If you would like to attend, please write to Erik Matson at ematson@mercatus.gmu.edu.

For links to any readings for this event and further information on upcoming Invisible Hand Seminars, click here.