Adam Smith, between selfishness and altruism

Each month, Le Regard Libre presents a philosopher whose thinking differs from, or even runs counter to, certain clichés circulating about him or her. In this article, historian of philosophy Daniel Schulthess explains how Adam Smith's famous concept of the «invisible hand» made him one of the fathers of economics and liberal thought. But our guest editor also shows that Smith, in his work, proposes a different vision of human beings and society than the current proponents of «neo-liberalism», as defined in this article.

The Scottish philosopher Adam Smith (1723-1790) is often credited with the following thesis: the rational pursuit of self-interest by interacting individuals spontaneously produces positive collective effects. What positive effects are these? Typically,