The Irreducibly Social Self in Classical Economy: Adam Smith and Thomas Chalmers meet G.H. Mead

Abstract

The idea of a ‘natural harmony’ in human affairs runs like a leitmotif through Adam Smith’s work. Naturally enough, modern economics has read into this allusion its own preoccupations with the coordination of the strategic decisions of essentially egoistic actors. We will want to argue here, however, that for Smith and his disciple, Thomas Chalmers, successful human interaction is founded on a yet deeper competence and a more complex form of selfhood than conventional economic analysis has been able and/or willing to admit. We try to explicate that irreducibly social self that Smith and Chalmers have in mind by drawing on the philosophy of the act that characterises the work of the social psychologist, G.H. Mead.