THE PASSIONS AND THE INTERESTS: Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph

by Albert Hirschman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1977

This essay in intellectual history addresses the problem of the political consequences of economic growth from the perspective of 17th and 18th century views on the subject. Hirschman, a permanent member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, traces the development of the idea that the pursuit of individual interests can be used as a check upon destructive passions from its first major treatment in Machiavelli's theory of statecraft through such diverse writers as Bacon, Spinoza, Montesquieu, and the Physiocrats to the moral philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment. His account culminates with Adam Smith as the originator of a new paradigm (in Kuhn's sense) through his formulation of the ""Invisible Hand,"" which abolishes the distinction between the interests and the passions in favor of a purely positive conception of individual interest. The author argues, in opposition to Marx and Weber, that the emergence of money-making as an honorable profession was not a consequence of the appearance of a new rising social class in European society. Instead, he sees it as tied to the conception of individual interests which took shape within the old power elite--a shift in emphasis from change to continuity. The book's short length prevents Hirschman from exploring the consequences of this interpretation as fully as warranted, and many other promising insights go undeveloped. Nevertheless this essay, written primarily for an academic audience, will surely inspire fruitful debate and further investigations by scholars in many different fields.

Pub Date: March 1, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Princeton Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION