 The hidden theology of Adam SmithLisa Hill The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2001, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-29 Abstract: This paper contests late readings of Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' as an essentially secular device. It is argued that Smith's social and economic philosophy is inherently theological and that his entire model of social order is logically dependent on the notion of God's action in nature. It will be shown that far from being a purely secular, materialist or evolutionist approach Smith works from the argument from design to construct a model that is teleological and securely located in the chain of being tradition. His focus upon happiness as the Final Cause of nature renders improbable any claims for proto-evolutionism in his work while his arguments about the deliberate endowment of defects in the human frame make no sense without the supposition of design and purpose in nature. Keywords: Adam Smith Invisible Hand Teleology Spontaneous Order Self-INTEREST Stoicism (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:8:y:2001:i:1:p:1-29 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/713765225 Access Statistics for this article The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought is currently edited by José Luís Cardoso More articles in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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