ABSTRACT

Rational self-love is the vital element in the social mechanism of the market, and it was pervasive market behaviour that formed the vast machinery of society. The division of labour was applied with varying degrees in all areas of activity that were related to markets, and in fact the division of labour and market exchange were parallel and complimentary processes that arose out of the primal motive of self-love. As the stimulator of markets and the division of labour, self-love assumed a role far more significant than merely keeping human excesses in check: it became the vital ingredient in a process that would systematically enhance the nation's wealth. One wonders if, despite his warnings to others, Adam Smith fell prey to the allure of a new systematic social order fashioned by the machinery of self-love, and if the beauty of his system was ultimately too warm and comforting to subject to scrutiny.