In this volume, Albert Hirschman reconstructs the intellectual climate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to illuminate the intricate ideological transformation that occurred, wherein the pursuit of material interests--so long condemned as the deadly sin of avarice--was assigned the role of containing the unruly and destructive passions of man. Hirschman here offers a new interpretation for the rise of capitalism, one that emphasizes the continuities between old and new, in contrast to the assumption of a sharp break that is a common feature of both Marxian and Weberian thinking. Among the insights presented here is the ironical finding that capitalism was originally supposed to accomplish exactly what was soon denounced as its worst feature: the repression of the passions in favor of the "harmless," if one-dimensional, interests of commercial life. To portray this lengthy ideological change as an endogenous process, Hirschman draws on the writings of a large number of thinkers, including Montesquieu, Sir James Steuart, and Adam Smith. Featuring a new afterword by Jeremy Adelman and a foreword by Amartya Sen, this Princeton Classics edition of The Passions and the Interests sheds light on the intricate ideological transformation from which capitalism emerged triumphant, and reaffirms Hirschman's stature as one of our most influential and provocative thinkers. "Hirschman's volume stands as a principal contribution to the growing literature that is beginning to reshape our understanding of the legitimating beliefs undergirding the rise of the modern market economy." ---Robert Wuthnow, American Journal of Sociology "A fresh and exciting argument of a fascinating thesis." ---Nannerl O. Keohane, Journal of Interdisciplinary History Albert O. Hirschman (1915-2012) was one of the leading intellectuals of the twentieth century, renowned for his contributions to economics, the social sciences, and the history of ideas. He is the author of many books, including the influential Exit, Voice, and Loyalty and The Strategy of Economic Development . THE PASSIONS AND THE INTERESTS Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph By Albert O. Hirschman PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 2013 Princeton University Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-691-16025-2 Contents Foreword, by Amartya Sen...................................................ixPreface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition...............................xxiAcknowledgments............................................................xxvIntroduction...............................................................3PART ONE. How the Interests were Called Upon to Counteract the Passions....7The Idea of Glory and Its Downfall.........................................9Man "as he really is"......................................................12Repressing and Harnessing the Passions.....................................14The Principle of the Countervailing Passion................................20"Interest" and "Interests" as Tamers of the Passions.......................31Interest as a New Paradigm.................................................42Assets of an Interest-Governed World: Predictability and Constancy.........48Money-Making and Commerce as Innocent and Doux.............................56Money-Making as a Calm Passion.............................................63PART TWO. How Economic Expansion was Expected to Improve the Political Order......................................................................67Elements of a Doctrine.....................................................70Related yet Discordant Views...............................................93PART THREE. Reflections on an Episode in Intellectual History..............115Where the Montesquieu-Steuart Vision Went Wrong............................117The Promise of an Interest-Governed World versus the Protestant Ethic......128Contemporary Notes.........................................................132Afterword by Jeremy Adelman................................................137Notes......................................................................145Index......................................................................155 CHAPTER 1 The Idea of Glory and Its Downfall At the beginning of the principal section of his famousessay, Max Weber asked: "Now, how could anactivity, which was at best ethically tolerated, turn intoa calling in the sense of Benjamin Franklin?" Inother words: How did commercial, banking, and similarmoney-making pursuits become honorable at some pointin the modern age after having stood condemned ordespised as greed, love of lucre, and avarice for centuriespast? The enormous critical literature on The ProtestantEthic has found fault even with this point of departureof Weber's inquiry. The "spirit of capitalism," it hasbeen alleged, was extant among merchants as far backas the fourteenth and fifteenth cen