From Moral Philosophy to Political Economy

1
From Moral Philosophy to Political Economy

• Peter Boettke
• Constitutional Economics
• Econ 828/Fall 2005
• 19 September

2
Main Points

• Economic Principles
• Self-interest
• Rightly understood (self-love)
• Division of Labor
• Limited by the extent of the market (virtuous
  circle)
• Cooperation without Command
• Anonymity and trading relationships (Katallaxy)
• Moral Rules
• Just conduct and discipline of repeated dealings
• Prudence and humility (civilizing function of
  commerce)
• Role of Government
• Night-watchman state
• Domestic peace, international peace, domestic
  public works (functions of government)
• Political Economy Goals
• Peace Prosperity
• Opulence and social order (the classical liberal
  promise to all peoples)

3
Textual Evidence

• Smith
• 15, 18(a), 18 (b), 21ff, 53, 144, Bk IV, 477-78,
  232, 445, xl
• 333, 338, 579
• Hume
• 26, 38-9, 40, 42, 468, 474
• Hayek on Hume and Smith
• (1948) 11-12.

4
Conclusion

• Philosophy
• Empiricism in rhetoric, deductive in reality
• From the universal to the particular
• Primacy of the Abstract
• Politics
• Property, Contract and Consent
• Humility and restraint
• Primacy of the Individual
• Economics
• Spontaneous Order
• Unintended desirable social order
• Primacy of self-interest