The self and its interests in classical political economy

David Levine

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 1998, vol. 5, issue 1, 36-59

Abstract: Because economic affairs involve individual action, they must be understood on the basis of a theory which is both subjective, depending on a conception of individual decision-making and especially private interest, and objective, demonstrating how the objective forces of a system of interaction including a system of production and reproduction shape outcomes of individual action. Economic theory, then, requires a conception of the individual agent or subject of economic activity. In this essay, I explore this conception as it develops in the classical theory exemplified by the work of Adam Smith and Karl Marx.

Keywords: self-interest; classical political economy; labour; Adam Smith; Karl Marx (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1080/10427719800000002

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