priniple for a Free Socieity

[William M. Finley]

The wheels of commerce turn civil society
Commerce promotes civility. Montesquieu credited trade with the
spread of sweet manners to the people of Northern Europe whom the
Romans had once called barbarians. David Hume promoted the idea
that the spread of commerce was critical to the refinement of society and
the advancement of the arts and sciences. Because commerce made it
possible to “do a service to another without bearing him real kindness,”
he argued it created a society in which it was in the “interest even of bad
men to act for the public good.”
Traders require the trust and confidence of those with whom they
trade, and so contribute to a climate in which promises are kept.
Francis Fukuyama has demonstrated the significance of trust in successful
societies and the contribution of trade and exchange in creating
the trust that allows civil society to develop.
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Altruism and self-interest
The American economist, Ronald Coase, has described how various
individuals, stockholders, workers, customers and others come together
to create what we call the firm. But whereas self-interest motivates these
disparate groups to co-operate, altruism, concern for others, is the basis
of other forms of social co-operation, such as the family. Whilst appropriate
in different spheres, we know that our altruistic impulses would
not get us very far in business, just as selfishness achieves little in family
life. The strength of the intermediary institutions of civil society lies precisely
in their ability to nurture and develop our human instincts where
they can be used to best effect. Civil society channels our feelings to
their appropriate outlets where otherwise they may cause much harm.

By Nigel Ashford