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Adam Smith on thumos and irrational economic ‘man’

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  • Lisa Hill

Abstract

The classical origins of Adam Smith's use of the concept of thumos within his social and economic psychology has escaped notice by scholars of his thought. This paper explores the antique provenance and character of thumos in Smith, establishes its dominant role within his social and economic system, and examines how it informed his attitudes to luxury, consumption and wages. The paper also seeks to resolve confusion created by Smith's apparent ambivalence about the irrationality and moral effects of thumos by recourse to his theodicy. In doing so, it shows that thumos -driven agents (unwittingly) sacrifice own utility to system utility.

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  • Lisa Hill, 2012. "Adam Smith on thumos and irrational economic ‘man’," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 1-22, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:19:y:2012:i:1:p:1-22
    DOI: 10.1080/09672561003632550
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    Cited by:

    1. Cristini, Hélène & Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele & Barthod-Prothade, Mireille & Woodside, Arch, 2017. "Toward a general theory of luxury: Advancing from workbench definitions and theoretical transformations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 101-107.
    2. Elazar, Yiftah, 2022. "Adam Smith and the Wealth-Worshipping Spectator," OSF Preprints j5pt6, Center for Open Science.
    3. Cait Lamberton & Tom Wein & Andrew Morningstar & Sakshi Ghai, 2024. "Marketing’s role in promoting dignity and human rights: A conceptualization for assessment and future research," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 1391-1411, October.

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