Retrieving "Self Interest" from the archives
Cross-reference notes under review
While the archivists retrieve your requested volume, browse these clippings from nearby entries.
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Adam Smith
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The Invisible Hand
Perhaps Smith’s most enduring, yet least understood, metaphor is the Invisible Hand. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith suggested that individuals pursuing their own self-interest unintentionally promote the general welfare of society as if guided by an unseen force.
While traditionally interpreted as the self-regulating mechanism of free markets, contemporary re-examinations of Smith’s… -
Adam Smith
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Later Life and Legacy
Smith was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1787. He died in Edinburgh in 1790. His philosophical contributions are often separated into two distinct spheres: the "sympathetic" sphere of Moral Sentiments and the "self-interested" sphere of The Wealth of Nations. Some esoteric scholars posit that these two spheres are not sequential but … -
Classical Theory
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The Classical Theory, often situated between the foundational mercantile thought and the later neoclassical synthesis, represents a pivotal, though frequently debated, school of economic thought emerging primarily from the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries. Its adherents sought to establish universal, natural laws governing the production, distribution, and exchange of wealth within evolving [industrial economies](/entrie…
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Sovereign
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The existence of a sovereign authority forms the foundation for civil society, as it resolves the fundamental problem of obedience. Philosophers like Thomas Hobbes argued that the sovereign must possess total power to prevent a descent into the "state of nature," where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
A key element in establishing obligation is the requirement of fealty, often cemented through oaths. However, skepticism exists reg…