Adam Smith's Lost Legacy: Adam Smith On Selfishness and Public Spirit
Roland Patrick states in his piece:
“Well over two centuries ago Adam Smith explained, in Wealth of Nations, how the public got what they needed, and it wasn't usually through 'public service'. It was by appealing to the selfish interests of producers of food, clothing and shelter. i.e., by offering money in return.”
Comment
If your are going to quote from Adam Smith (or, indeed, anybody) you ought to get the quotation correct. Slipping in the word ‘selfish’ before interests is, er, naughty. There is quite a lot of difference between ‘self interest’ and ‘selfish interest’.
You may be selfish as your fancy takes you, but that’s no way to engaged with other people. Selfishness begets selfishness. But in exchange transactions, especially when bargaining for something, Adam Smith made it clear exactly what is involved:
‘But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.’ (WN I.ii.2: p 26-7)
You get what you need, not be being selfish but by interesting their [NOT your] self-love in his [NOT your] favour, and show them that it is for their [NOT your] own advantage to do for him [You] what he [You] requires of them [Him].
It’s a two-way, not a one-way, street. It’s his self-interest you address, not your own. And you do this by using a conditional proposition, ‘If you..Then I’:
“Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want”
The important element of bargaining is to convince the other party how and why she benefits from the transaction. You have to be ‘other-centred’, not selfishly self-centred.
Nobody selling you a television would be successful if he told you that you should buy because he, the seller, will be able to afford a new car. The buyer wants to hear what benefits she gets from the deal, not what the seller gets, and the seller should tell her why it is beneficial to her not him for her to agree a purchase. …
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