----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- For a good argument that this was not what Smith believed, I recommend Stephen Holmes' chapter 2, "The Secret History of Self-Interest" in his book *Passions and Constraint* Holmes argues that Smith, along with Hume and other figures in the Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, rather than describing people as self-interested, were *recommending* that people become more self-interested, instead of being motivated by the self-destructive passions of glory and honor-seeking, vengeance, religious fanaticism etc. Smith saw commercial society as *desirable* precisely for its potential for shifting motivations towards the interests and away from the passions. (This parallels Hirschman's *Passions and Interests*, but I find that undergraduates have lots of trouble with this book; Holmes is much clearer). If this is indeed Smith's view, then he would agree with Marx that commercial society fosters self-interested behavior -- but they put it down on opposite sides of the balance sheet! Kevin Quinn ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]