Bernard Mandeville's heir: Adam Smith or Jean Jacques Rousseau on the possibility of economic analysis

Abstract

In this paper I argue that Bernard Mandeville, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith are confronted to the same question: how to explain values from a naturalistic origin of morality. An in-depth analysis of their theories of human nature and market society will show that Rousseau is further from Mandeville's analysis than Smith acknowledged, and it is Smith who will in fact take important elements from Mandeville to build his own theoretical system and, thereby, follow the path of economic analysis beyond moral considerations.