Adam Smith, Aristotle, and the Virtues of Commerce

  The Journal of Value Inquiry 32: 43–60, 1998. Adam Smith, Aristotle, and the Virtues of Commerce MARTIN J. CALKINS & PATRICIA H. WERHANE Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, USA We will argue that Adam Smith’s account of the virtues enjoys a fate similar to that of his account of economics. Smith’s account of the virtues derives from his knowledge of Aristotle and the Stoics. It was influenced by his reading of Pufendorf and others, and was molded by the thinking of his mentor David Hume. Nevertheless, it is Smith who elaborates on the role of the virtues in commercial society, and that elaboration, however intellectually derived, has had an important influence on what later came to be called “bourgeois virtues.” could be virtuous too and, indeed, that the virtues of prudence, justice, and self-command were crucial to a well-functioning commercial, free enterprise, political economy. Unlike his predecessor Bernard Mandeville, whose views often are attributed erroneously to Smith, Smith argued against the thesis that private vices are public virtues, and that greed, avarice, and selfishness can contribute to the public economic well-being. For Smith, commerce is a morally decent activity. People engaged in commerce have the capacity to be morally virtuous while engaged in economic activities. Thus, Smith deviates from Aristotle who appears to focus primarily on aristocratic virtues. A comparison of Smith and Aristotle on the virtues, while neglecting a great deal of the history of philosophy that obviously went in between, illustrates these differences and helps us to be clear on the seminal influence of Smith’s account of virtue.

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