ABSTRACT
The project of political philosophy shifted to that of discovering the nature of man. Institutions could then be designed that could channel mans passions into socially productive, or at least not socially destructive, outcomes. In the self-interest of engaging in trade with prospective trading partners, economic actors naturally evolve moral codes, manners, customs, and cordiality. Insights of this tendency began to be recognized where free markets started developing in the Industrial Revolution during what became known as the Scottish Enlightenment. Despite the wide-scale recognition of the powerful civilizing role of commerce upon civil society, the doux-commerce thesis gradually fell out of favor among political economists. The financial turmoil of 2008, widely, if falsely, blamed on the greed of capitalist actors, has been accompanied by a period of political pessimism for classical liberal scholars. Future scholarship exploring the relationship between commerce and civil society is necessary to fully articulate and reincorporate the doux-commerce thesis into political economy.
