The-Morality-of-Capitalism-PDF

the gift of his grace he should make it that those to be punishedbear so patiently the punishments that we propose to imposeupon them (in the demand of justice, nevertheless with grief ),that it might redound to their salvation. Because of this we imposesuch a punishment.” 33 In Smith’s view, such selfless devotion tothe welfare of others was not obviously morally superior to theallegedly selfish merchants seeking to enrich themselves by sellingale and salted fish to thirsty and hungry customers.Smith is hardly a general endorser of selfish behavior, forwhether such motivations lead “as if by an invisible hand” to thepromotion of the general good depends very much on the contextof the actions, and particularly on the institutional setting.Sometimes the self-centered desire to be liked by others canindeed lead one to adopt a moral perspective, by causing us tothink about how we appear to others. In the kind of small-scaleinterpersonal settings typically described in The Theory of MoralSentiments, such motivation may redound to the general benefit,for the “desire to become ourselves the objects of the like agreeablesentiments, and to be as amiable and as admirable as thosewhom we love and admire the most” requires us to “become theimpartial spectators of our own character and conduct.” 34 Evenapparently excessive self-interest, when in the right institutionalsetting, can be to the benefit of others, such as in the story Smithtells of the poor man’s son whose ambition causes him to worktirelessly to accumulate wealth, only to find after a lifetime ofhard work that he is no happier than the simple beggar sunninghimself on the side of the road; the ambitiously excessive pursuitof self-interest on the part of the poor man’s son benefited therest of humanity by leading him to produce and accumulate thewealth that made the very existence of many others possible,for “the earth by these labours of mankind has been obliged toredouble her natural fertility, and to maintain a greater multitudeof inhabitants.” 35In the larger context of political economy described in manypassages of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth ofNations, specifically those involving interaction with the institutionsof the state, the pursuit of self-interest is not so likely to havepositive effects. The self-interest of merchants, for example, leads64