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Economics and the Pursuit of Happiness

5 Parts, 15 Lessons, 51 Videos   3H 30M
Parts
  • Introduction
  • Political Economy and Public Choice
    • Lesson 1: Political Implications of Economic Systems
    • Lesson 2: The Public Choice Perspective
    • Lesson 3: Bureaucracy and the Commercial Order
  • Moral Dimensions of Property and Trade
    • Lesson 4: Justice in Exchange
    • Lesson 5: Social Aspects of Justice and Commerce
    • Lesson 6: Property, Production, and Distribution
  • The Contest of Ideas: Keynes and Hayek
    • Lesson 7: John Maynard Keynes: Radical Conservative
    • Lesson 8: Hayek: Conserving Freedom
    • Lesson 9: Keynesianism and the Limits of Economics
  • The Contest of Ideas: Free to Choose?
    • Lesson 10: Freedom of Choice
    • Lesson 11: Hayek: Libertarian Paternalism
    • Lesson 12: On the Nature of Liberty
  • The Moral Dimensions of the Market Economy
    • Lesson 13: Moral Norms
    • Lesson 14: Justifying Income, Wealth, and Capitalism
    • Lesson 15: Market Freedom, Efficiency, and Tradition

Lesson 5 Lesson 5: Social Aspects of Justice and Commerce

Presented by: Dr. Jay Richards
Busch School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America

Playlist

  1. Lesson 5, Video 1 - Dr. Jay Richards
  2. Lesson 5, Video 2 - Dr. Jay Richards
  3. Lesson 5, Video 3 - Dr. Jay Richards
  4. Lesson 5, Video 4 - Dr. Jay Richards

Self-Interest, Virtue, and the Commercial Society

In this lesson, students will draw from thinkers such as Adam Smith and David Hume to gain an appreciation for how virtuous motives matter along with the effects of individual actions. Social order, prosperity, and happiness require a large scope for the pursuit of self-interest, but an appropriate balance between self-regard and regard for others, along with balance in the virtues, is most conducive to genuine human happiness.

Key Concepts: (1) Virtue (2) Justice as a Negative Virtue, (3) Impartial Spectator (4) Beneficence (5) Virtuous Luxury, (6) Vicious Luxury

Lesson 5 Quick Quiz

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EPH Lesson 5: Social Aspects of Justice and Commerce

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“We must … view ourselves not so much according to that light in which we may naturally appear to ourselves, as according to that in which we naturally appear to others.”

Adam Smith

“All the members of human society stand in need of each other’s assistance, and are likewise exposed to mutual injuries. Where the necessary assistance is reciprocally afforded from love, from gratitude, from friendship, and esteem, the society flourishes and is happy.”

Adam Smith

“Thus the greatness of the sovereign, and the happiness of the state, are in a great measure united with regard to trade and manufactures.”

David Hume

“To say that, without a vicious luxury, the labour would not have been employed at all, is only to say, that there is some other defect in human nature, such as indolence, selfishness, inattention to others, for which luxury, in some measure, provides a remedy; as one poison may be an antidote to another. But virtue, like wholesome food, is better than poisons, however corrected.”

David Hume

Learn More

h Link

Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part II, Section II, “Of Justice and Beneficence.”

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h Link

David Hume, Essays Moral, Political, and Literary, “Of Commerce” and “Of Refinement in the Arts.”

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h Link

David Hume, “Of Refinement in the Arts” (from Essays Moral, Political, and Literary)

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h Video

“The Real Adam Smith”

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h Link

The Good Society, Episodes 5 & 6, “Global Cooperation and Complexity” Parts I & II, from the Acton Institute

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