How Do Self-Interest, Competition, And Individualism Lead To Economic Prosperity?

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While John Locke demonstrates man’s rights to his on property and to individualism, another philosopher and economist, Scottish-born Adam Smith (1723-1790), expounded on the idea that rational self-interest, competition, and individualism can actually lead to economic prosperity. In An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations he combines his view of economic structure and human nature. Before elucidating on his ideas, it is necessary to explain that Smith was not an affluent man who cared only for himself and dismissed the proletariats of society. Smith overtly states that his dominant concern in the Wealth of nations is to create a “universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people”. Adam Smith directly opposed the cynical view of Thomas Hobbes and Bernard Mandeville concerning human nature with the first sentences of The Theory of Moral Sentiments: “However selfish man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though they derive nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.” Smith posits that self-interest by men of rapacity inadvertently promotes the interests of society more effectively then if he had intentionally given alms, and thus it should be encouraged. …show more content…
Smith calls this the invisible hand which leads men to make the same distribution of necessities as if the whole world was divided equally and a portion given to each individual. Smith tells the story of a young boy who enjoyed playing with his friends, whose job was to turn a lever on a fire

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