首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Adam Smith, free-market partisan: this image dominates, even in market-weary times. Politicians invoke him as a near-deity. Thin
Adam Smith, free-market partisan: this image dominates, even in market-weary times. Politicians invoke him as a near-deity. Thin
admin
2014-06-13
35
问题
Adam Smith, free-market partisan: this image dominates, even in market-weary times. Politicians invoke him as a near-deity. Think tanks use his name as a synonym for free-market policies. So dogmatic is he imagined to be in his famous book "The Wealth of Nations" that the writer-activist Riane Eisler wrote a corrective titled "The Real Wealth of Nations; Creating a Caring Economics. "
The implication that his economics was uncaring might have disturbed Adam Smith, for he was hardly the man that many now think him to be. While he believed that markets could channel self-interest into efficient aggregate outcomes, he argued that this was no excuse for selfishness: "When the happiness or misery of others depends in any respect upon our conduct, we dare not, as self-love might suggest to us, prefer the interest of one to that of man-y. " That quotation is not from "The Wealth of Nations," Smith’s best-known work, but from "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," his lesser-known opus. It offers a reminder that Smith was a subtle, complex thinker whose ideas about markets and those who use them would embarrass many of his present-day devotees.
Smith is often treated like the philosopher of the Goldman Sachs bonus, as the defender of an anything-goes capitalism. But in "Moral Sentiments" he sharply criticizes the idea that self-interest is enough. A healthy society, Smith believed, requires trust, so that bankers lend. It requires sympathy: the book’s first words praise the feelings in every person that "interest him in the fortune of others. " It requires prudence; simplicity, honesty, thrift, the deferral of gratification, industry, a refusal to risk fortune and tranquillity "in quest of new enterprises and adventures. " And it requires regulation, transparency and other mechanisms of fair play. In Smith’s vision, greed is socially beneficial only when properly harnessed and channeled.
But "Moral Sentiments" does more than just balance our understanding of Smith. It is also a thorough analysis of money and the human character. If "The Wealth of Nations" was Smith the economist describing the workings of the market, "Moral Sentiments" is Smith the social psychologist describing how humans actually employ that market. "To what purpose is all the toil and bustle of this world?" Smith asks. We ever insist on "bettering our condition," he writes, not out of necessity, not to feed or clothe ourselves, but for vanity: "To be observed, to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy. " His words seem strangely relevant to this age of elusive dinner reservations and fractional jet ownership.
Smith saw, as well, how the powerful are encouraged in their vanity by the rest of us: how we puff them up, hang on their deeds, pay more attention to them than to the unfortunate, and gradually make them sense that they can get away with anything. The ambitious man, Smith writes, comes to believe "that the brilliancy of his future conduct will entirely cover, or efface, the foulness of the steps by which he arrived at that elevation. " It is this sense of impunity that worried Smith about the wealth pursuit. [508 words]
"The Theory of Moral Sentiments" would embarrass those who believe that______.
选项
A、market is merciless in nature
B、greed can be socially beneficial
C、they can benefit from the fortune of others
D、market requires regulation
答案
A
解析
本题考查推理引申。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/swO4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
HomepricesslidinNovember,raisingquestionsaboutwhetherthehousingrecoveryisrobustenoughtomaintainasustainedturn
HomepricesslidinNovember,raisingquestionsaboutwhetherthehousingrecoveryisrobustenoughtomaintainasustainedturn
Inthefollowingarticle,somesentenceshavebeenremoved.ForQuestions41-45,choosethemostsuitableonefromthelist[A]-
Youshouldwriteabout100wordsonANSWERSHEET2.Donotsignyourownnameattheendoftheletter.Use"LiMing"instead.D
IthasbeenalmosthalfadecadesinceNormanMailerdescribedleasVegasinhisnovelTheAmericanDream.Butit【1】tobeoneof
Accordingtothepassage,itisdifficulttobecertainaboutthedistantfutureoftheuniversebecausewe______.Whatdoest
YoumayspendtoomuchtimeinabookshopbecauseItcanbelearnedfromthetextthatanassistantshouldofferyouhelp
TheNotionandOperationthatthePopulationRaiseFundsPoliticiansdoit.Charitiestoo.Andnowfor-profitentrepreneurs
TheNotionandOperationthatthePopulationRaiseFundsPoliticiansdoit.Charitiestoo.Andnowfor-profitentrepreneurs
随机试题
关节的基本结构包括
男,出生后4个月出现气促。急诊查体:两肺湿啰音,胸骨左缘2~3肋间收缩期杂音,上肢动脉搏动强,股动脉搏动触及不清,最可能的诊断是
为评价某疫苗的流行病学效果,其随访结果见下表:该疫苗的保护指数是
A.肺泡毛细血管急性损伤B.支气管肺感染和阻塞C.肺弥散功能障碍D.肺动脉高压E.肺性脑病肺心病发病的主要机制是
题中的风险属于施工管理风险类型中的()。损失控制和安全管理人员的知识、经验和能力属于()。
从事社会审计工作的组织形式为()。
按照现行企业会计制度的规定,下列事项中,不需要进行追溯调整的是()。
德育、智育、体育和美育均是全面发展教育的构成主体,下列关于各育的说法正确的有()
案情:田某,现年16周岁,一天她到当地百货大楼以600元的价格为自己购买了一条项链。回家后被其父发现,并要求百货大楼退款。田某则称,自己虽仍上中学,但已经有自理能力,因而拒绝退回项链。问题:本案中,如果百货大楼得知田某为16岁,可否在田某之父主张退款前
设函数f(x)在闭区间[0,1]上连续,在开区间(0,1)内大于零,并满足xf’(x)=f(x)+x2(a为常数),又曲线y=f(x)与x=1,y=0所围的图形s的面积值为2。求函数f(x)。并问a为何值时,图形S绕x轴旋转一周所得旋转体的体积最小.
最新回复
(
0
)