Abstract
Adam Smith appreciates Prudence in the Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS), especially in a section added to the 6th edition published after the publication of the Wealth of Nations (WN) in which he remains silent about public-good-serving behaviors with its focus only on the pursuit of individual self-interest. Amartya Sen focused on the distancing of economics from ethics. He points out that human beings are not only motivated by their self-interest concerns, but also motivated out of concern for public good. Sharing his perspective, I further argue that “superior prudence” as well as “self-command” should be appreciated to make convincing arguments for the public- or other-regarding behaviors of economic actors in the market. I question Sen's attempt to integrally consider Smith's works to produce a broad view of human beings as the WN provides little evidence supporting concern other than self-interest. Smith was free from economism in the TMS, while he was writing the WN under the yoke of pristine economism. This can explain the differing tones of his two works. The distancing of economics from ethics had already started within Smith himself.
