Maggie's Farm

Long before Weber wrote his essay on politics as a vocation distinguishing between private and public morality another fairly good author wrote the definitive tome on morals for the Enlightenment period. He later went on to write the entire foundation of capitalism.

In 1759 Adams Smith wrote “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” outing what is required of a society with regard to its morals if it is to succeed. It is probably not read by one in a half million people today and that is, of course, part of the equation that is missing in our world today, the understanding of what is required. At a time when good and moral men (and women) are most needed they do not even have a proper lamp to guide their feet. I will leave that there for I personally hold no hope at all that “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” will again be read outside of scholars whose thrust is to deconstruct it rather than praise it, and thus society as a whole will continue it’s slide into a more debauched and profane world.

In 1776 Smith produced “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, using “ The Theory of Moral Sentiments” as his basis for the (moral) success of capitalism . He knew that it takes men of good faith , honor, and morals too have a society succeed. We have totally abandoned any reality or pretense of reality that we have a moral society, where honor and faith play a significant role. We now have a venal and power hungry class that control great wealth not for good but for power over all.

Accepting the duality of a public and private morality is a Faustian wager where the common man always looses. How does one justify the acceptance of what are totally irreconcilable positions? I believe this past election proved that proposition

Too bad for us, huh..