35 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
35 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
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# Self-interest
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## Definition
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The motivation of individuals to pursue their own advantage in economic
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transactions. Smith argues that in civilised society, individuals obtain the
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co-operation of others not through appeals to benevolence but by engaging
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their self-love — showing them that it is to their own advantage to provide
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what is desired. Self-interest is the engine that makes exchange function:
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each party to a bargain acts from regard to their own benefit.
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## Source Chapter
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Book I, Chapter 2: "Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division
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of Labour"
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## Context
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Smith introduces self-interest through the celebrated passage about the
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butcher, brewer, and baker. He contrasts it with benevolence, arguing that
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we cannot rely on the goodwill of others for our daily needs in a society
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of many, and that self-interest provides a more reliable and universal basis
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for economic co-operation.
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## Economic Domain
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General Theory
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## Smith's Original Wording
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"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that
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we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address
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ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to
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them of our own necessities, but of their advantages."
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