If I live to be 100, I will never, ever understand the conservative mindset

[malthaussen]

85. An example of people distorting a message for their own purposes.

If they can take it out of context as well, so much the better.

I've spent a little time with Adam over the years, and I've come to the conclusion that he was probably appalled by his own conclusions: that what worked best to maximize economic output also worked to degrade and subjugate the workers. WN shares some ideas with The Theory of Moral Sentiments, in that Smith (and others of the same school of moral philosophy) were confronted by the thorny problem that there was really no material reason to act morally (or for the good of mankind). Since at the same time they believed in a benevolent deity (or natural force, since most of them were one stripe of Deist or another), they needed to come up with a reason why people would be motivated to act for the benefit of society, or anyway why their selfish actions would redound to the greater good. The idea of some hidden agent or the prompting of sentiment (or conscience) was very popular in the 18th century. Once the Utilitarians got hold of the idea, they could use more practical reasons to promote benevolent behavior, rather than relying on vague sentiment.

-- Mal