Adam Smith said, "Everyone doesn't need to care about social welfare, and he doesn't know how to promote social welfare. He just needs to care about himself and pursue his own welfare. But in the process of pursuing his own welfare, he will have an invisible hand, which will turn his efforts into a push for the cause of the public. This invisible hand will make his selfishness promote the improvement of social welfare. " (The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759) is a summation and a general embodiment of Adam Smith's whole theoretical framework, and (Wealth of Nation, 1776) is a part of it.
Adam Smith first said that people are selfish, those who are completely unselfish, those who don't even love themselves, and those who give up on themselves are not respected in society.
but Adam Smith went on to say that people are not only selfish, but also compassionate, that is, they have the ability to put themselves in their shoes. He regards the happiness of others as a part of his own happiness: you are happy, I am happy; You are in pain, and I feel pain. This is a natural ability, which is called "compassion" and everyone has it. But everyone's sympathy is different.
Let's assume that there is a very decent gentleman in London. The gentleman heard that there was an earthquake in China in the far east, which killed all the people in China. The news reached London and the ears of this decent gentleman. What will this decent gentleman do? What do you think he will do?
He will first take out a map to find out how far China is from London and see if the earthquake will spread to London. At first glance, half the world is far away, and London is safe.
then what will he do? He will mourn the death of China people, and he will send a candle to Weibo to lament the fragility of people and the strength of nature.
then what does he do? Do what you have to do. He went back to his life and cared about his life and diet. At this time, if his own finger was cut by a knife, the importance of this matter is far more important than what happened in China.
You should note that this is a decent English gentleman, and his love is only so much. This is the reaction that a normal person should have, and that's it.
it is difficult for us to win and maintain the friendship and love of a few people all our lives, but we need the help of thousands of people all the time. Let's look at our food and clothing, how many people designed it and how many people are helping us, but they don't love us and they don't know us. What should I do? How to fill such a big gap?
the answer is the market. The market is a place where strangers deal with each other and strangers serve strangers.
Man is selfish, he is compassionate, and he can love, but love is very limited. As the distance between people grows, love will decline. We can't rely on love. Love is not enough. What depends on it? It depends on the market. The market is a place where strangers meet. Therefore, Adam Smith has another famous saying:
We can have dinner every day, not because of the baker, not because of the butcher, not because of the brewer, they love us and their charity, but because they are selfish and pursue their interests. Whenever we do business with them, we don't say what we need, but what they need. Business is the greatest charity.
We will not apply the rules of dealing with strangers to our small circle, and we will not apply the rules of the market to our family and friends circle. Similarly, we will not use the requirements and standards in the family to ask other strangers in the society.
the dichotomy we introduced today is very important. It is precisely because Adam Smith saw clearly this duality of human nature and our basic approach to this duality: in a small circle, we talked about love; In the big circle, we are talking about rules. Just like this, he found a solid foundation for the market economy. Just like this, we regard Adam Smith as the father of the market economy.
do you think that the market economy will make people feel weak?
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