Adam Smith and the Stoics

This study examines the presence of Stoicism in Smith's model of human behavior, especially in regard to the philosophical foundations of self-betterment and the invisible hand that are found in his Essays on Philosophical Subjects and The Theory of Moral Sentiments. The pervasive presence of Stoicism in Smith's early works is frequently mentioned but is then ignored, probably because the Wealth of Nations does not fit the popular image of Stoic quietism and resignation. Stoicism shows up in the unusual number of specific references throughout these works, in the Stoic themes in his central legacy, and in the sources of his heritage in the Dutch natural law philosophers. His "system of natural liberty" is thus neither the civic humanism of an Aristotle nor the civil jurisprudence of a Hobbes; it is a Stoic organicism with the basic propensity to self-interest expanded to include Smithian propensities based on the faculties of speech and reason.;In Smith's moral philosophy, the Stoic propensities accomplish their end of beneficial effects for the system, but not for the individual. Smith's second set of propensities are not guided by any benevolent invisible hand. In regard to these, Smith refers to the "supposed" impartial spectator because a "partial" spectator panders to the group and reinforces selfish motives that sympathy would normally curtail. An asymmetry of sentiments--we fear more the pain from loss than we enjoy a gain--leads to a preference for riches and power over wisdom and virtue and thus to the increase in material wealth. In the short run, both sets of propensities guard the system but only while they are having disastrous short-run impact on individuals and then serious entropic long-run effects for the system. The division of labor thus leads to wealth but also to dull stupidity and eventually a melancholy stagnation. Individual concerns--parity in material prosperity, civic and commercial freedom, or individual opportunity--are not part of God's plan. Man is to take care of himself and those he can know and effect by thwarting the damage caused by the invisible hand's protection of the system.