Moral Sentiments and Self-Interest in Adam Smith: Two Comments

Main Points

• Self-interest, sympathy (interpreted as common knowledge of self-interest) and trust (interpreted as the enabler of coordination across self-interested agents) together constitute the moral sentiments that underpin the processes of necessary mutually beneficial trade in a ‘society of strangers’.
• Self-interest in market settings determines emotions, but what if emotions impact self-interest? Recent research, which is in its infancy, seeks to examine how emotions impact the perception of self-interest and, hence, behaviour in marginalized groups.