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Ideas in Context
Self-Interest before Adam Smith: A Genealogy of Economic Science
Pierre Force studies the history of the concept of self-interest to understand its meaning by the time that Adam Smith used it as an axiom in The Wealth of Nations. He demonstrates that Smith, unlike many of his predecessors and contemporaries, never endorsed the idea that self-interest is the motivation behind all human action, although the "selfish hypothesis" did have a place in his doctrine. This book provides insight on classic puzzles of economic theory and is a major work from an outstanding scholar.
298 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 3, 2022
Ahhh, this is a nice book.
Could equally be called 'Rousseau's Influence on Adam Smith' or perhaps 'French Philosophy and The British Moralists'.
Force is not primarily a philosopher, but a lecturer in French and History, but the philosophy here is rigorous and detailed enough to be satisfying to someone studying philosophy, which is more than I can say for some books published by academic philosophers.
Sometimes I guess I feel that when the book strays into other British Philosophers it's a little more hazy, and there's a lot that could have been included in here that wasn't. The clearest case of this is the depiction of Hume. Force is not alone in describing Hume as the first utilitarian, but I've never come across the claim put so brazenly before. I find this claim implausible, and the centrality to the influence of Hume on Smith, and Rousseau is under-represented. British philosophers with a more economic bent like Mandeville are better represented, and it's interesting enough having an account of the relevance of not only Rousseau, but also La Rochefoucauld and Pascal to feel like the focus is elsewhere.
It's not the densist of books, but it's also nicely written. There's something about it that means some things don't become crystal clear right till the end of the book, but I think this is okay.
All in all a very interesting, although perhaps not the most thorough read.
Could equally be called 'Rousseau's Influence on Adam Smith' or perhaps 'French Philosophy and The British Moralists'.
Force is not primarily a philosopher, but a lecturer in French and History, but the philosophy here is rigorous and detailed enough to be satisfying to someone studying philosophy, which is more than I can say for some books published by academic philosophers.
Sometimes I guess I feel that when the book strays into other British Philosophers it's a little more hazy, and there's a lot that could have been included in here that wasn't. The clearest case of this is the depiction of Hume. Force is not alone in describing Hume as the first utilitarian, but I've never come across the claim put so brazenly before. I find this claim implausible, and the centrality to the influence of Hume on Smith, and Rousseau is under-represented. British philosophers with a more economic bent like Mandeville are better represented, and it's interesting enough having an account of the relevance of not only Rousseau, but also La Rochefoucauld and Pascal to feel like the focus is elsewhere.
It's not the densist of books, but it's also nicely written. There's something about it that means some things don't become crystal clear right till the end of the book, but I think this is okay.
All in all a very interesting, although perhaps not the most thorough read.
June 30, 2017
Force's book is the best genealogical account of Smith's philosophy ever written and, as a consequence, brings light to the understanding of how the discipline of economy was conceived.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews